{"id":1380,"date":"2007-03-06T16:32:06","date_gmt":"2007-03-06T21:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wish-your-cancer-away\/"},"modified":"2007-03-06T16:32:06","modified_gmt":"2007-03-06T21:32:06","slug":"wish-your-cancer-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wish-your-cancer-away","title":{"rendered":"Wish your cancer away!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good thing the British National Health Service has been trying to reduce its reimbursement for Herceptin<\/a>, a very focusedly effective breast cancer treatment*. That way, they can spend money on dowsers, flower therapists, and crystal healers<\/a>! Yay!<\/p>\n

(thanks to Cato-at-Liberty<\/a> for pointing this one out)<\/p>\n

* By which I mean, Herceptin works really well against around 25% of breast cancers, but is not effective against the other types. That said, it’s a major advance in treatment. Pity that, since it doesn’t work for every case, the NHS tried to keep it off the reimbursement list.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good thing the British National Health Service has been trying to reduce its reimbursement for Herceptin, a very focusedly effective breast cancer treatment*. That way, they can spend money on dowsers, flower therapists, and crystal healers! Yay! (thanks to Cato-at-Liberty for pointing this one out) * By which I mean, Herceptin works really well against … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Wish your cancer away!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,12,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-business","category-pharmaceuticals","category-politics-explicit"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-mg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1025,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/the-hit-factory","url_meta":{"origin":1380,"position":0},"title":"The Hit Factory","author":"Gil","date":"July 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I've been writing about the drug industry (our magazine bowed in October 1999) I've been hearing that we're heading toward The Era of Personalized Medicine. This means that, as we develop more knowledge of the genome, proteome, and metabolome (you think I'm making this stuff up?), drugs will be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":321,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/jean-therapy","url_meta":{"origin":1380,"position":1},"title":"Jean therapy","author":"Gil","date":"August 12, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Evidently, we're supposed to wear jeans to battle breast cancer. Charlie Sheen says so. Why do I link to this item? Solely because of the opening clause about Mr. Sheen: \"One of the most prolific actors in Hollywood . . . \"","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13117,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/covid-check-in-with-jennifer-hayden","url_meta":{"origin":1380,"position":2},"title":"COVID Check-In with Jennifer Hayden","author":"Gil","date":"April 10, 2020","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show COVID Check-In: Jennifer Hayden Cartoonist Jennifer Hayden checks in from central NJ. We talk about the need to micro-vent during self-isolation with her family, the graphic memoir she finds herself immersed in (and which keeps growing in scale), her changing understanding of aspects of the Goddess, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/covidjenhaydencomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C503&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/covidjenhaydencomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C503&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/covidjenhaydencomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C503&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/covidjenhaydencomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C503&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/covidjenhaydencomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C503&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5629,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-october-8-2010","url_meta":{"origin":1380,"position":3},"title":"Unrequired Reading: October 8, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"October 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a great week! Don't forget to tip your waitress! Okay, we start off with another (horrifying) Required Reading: exploding the notion of \"Breast Cancer Awareness month\". * * * Biological class warfare . . . in Brooklyn! * * * How to make Mariah Carey tasteful. * *\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pharmaceuticals"","block_context":{"text":"Pharmaceuticals","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business\/pharmaceuticals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17821,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-663-jennifer-hayden","url_meta":{"origin":1380,"position":4},"title":"Episode 663 – Jennifer Hayden","author":"Gil","date":"November 11, 2025","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 663: Jennifer Hayden \"The great crystallizing aspect of aging is that the older you get, the more intense you get about what you really are, and the less you give a shit about all that stuff you're not.\" Who knew that olive oil makes head lice sleepy?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/jenhayden2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C699&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/jenhayden2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C699&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/jenhayden2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C699&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/jenhayden2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C699&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/jenhayden2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C699&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2046,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/blood-club","url_meta":{"origin":1380,"position":5},"title":"Blood club","author":"Gil","date":"May 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's an update to last week's call for blood and\/or platelet donation for Nathanael Sandstrom, a young (well, my age) man suffering from lymphoma at Sloan-Kettering in NYC. 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