Originally submitted as a Reader Response on 17th February 2008

Morgan Giddings' article was perfect, and I completely agree with it. Dogma dies hard. For example, I didn't hear about Peter Mitchell's chemiosmotic theory until I came to Oxford in 1974; the Nobel Prize-winning Biochemistry professor I had at Harvard never even mentioned it, focusing on Britton Chance's work instead.

I'm sorry to report that the medical-industrial complex (by which I mean, chiefly, hospitals and the medical schools they support) is much more selective about what it leaks to the public now than in Fleming's day. Penicillin was big news. Nowadays, being able to prevent 90% of a multi-billion dollar industry like kidney dialysis and transplantation (1) gets quietly suppressed by all the authorities who make a living off kidney failure (2), including government agencies like Medicare and the NHS.

1. Moskowitz DW. From pharmacogenomics to improved patient outcomes: angiotensin I-converting enzyme as an example. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2002;4(4):519-32.
PMID: 12396747. (For PDF file, click on paper #1 at: http://www.genomed.com/in...)

2. Moskowitz, DW. Promoting dialysis alternative. Letter. ACP Observer, Dec. 2006 (http://www.acponline.org/...)

Submitted by: David Moskowitz MD FACP
E-mail: dwmoskowitz@genomed.com
Occupation: CEO
GenoMed, Inc.

Competing interests?YES
I'm the CEO of GenoMed, a for-profit Next Generation Disease Management whose business is public health(tm).