- Dec 16, 2006
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Err... yes, they will. If it's available free of charge, they can spend virtually nothing on the production costs. They can research why it works, and synthesise more effective strains, more regimented and safe doses, etc. And, indeed, this is exactly what they do. New drugs come as often from the natural world as they do from the lab.
I should have said 'publicise' rather than 'research'. It is almost self-evident pharmaceutical companies won't pay to publicise another company's product or equally one that is already available and can't be patented.
In the case of salicylic acid there are no other strains, but investigating the mechanism could lead to alternatives which are safer or otherwise better in some way.
I may have misremembered a bit; salicylic acid is great first aid but for serious clot-busting you may require... a vampire bat.
(And yes that is where developing a synthetic drug would be useful)
Exactly. You heard. Is there any actual evidence for this, or is just an old wives tale? Lord knows many abound. "Nosebleed? Tilt your head back!"
I recall a failure to take aspirin sufficiently seriously back a decade or two ago but am not going to investigate that for supporting evidence. It was commented back then that since no one was going to make a lot of money out of it, that it wasn't being adequately promoted at the time, but it certainly has caught on very well since.
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