Timing And Results In Medical Research
USA Today aptly illustrates a number of problems relating to the way in which people think about medical research. Gene therapy is offered up as a technology hyped as offering cures for age-related conditions (amongst others), but is now perceived as having "gone nowhere" because commercial results have not been achieved within a decade. This is nonsense - the field of gene therapy is still healthy, active and in development. Media-driven expectations of instant gratification present a problem for stem cell research as well, but: "I can find no example where over the long term we have not moved ahead for research for cures of major diseases." We can certainly hope so.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/genetics/2004-09-16-stemcells_x.htm