Like I notice there is a huge push for prevention, which is fantastic, but that kind of feels like taking all the people who are already suffering from intractable conditions and throwing them under the bus.
Like when are we gonna actually get lab grown kidneys, livers, tendons, and all that shit that would immediately help so many people? I remember at the beginning of this century stem cells were all the rage, but I haven't seen anything groundbreaking. Every "promising" study said that treatments (perhaps cures) were "5 to 10 years" away.
We can send a probe to the south pole of the moon but if you have back pain then it's basically "fuck you here's some pain meds but we're not gonna actually fix your issue... maybe try to do some physical therapy and get out of my office" kind of shit. Or "You got diabetes? too bad no cure here's some $8k insulin." And "Oh you tore your miniscus? Well just 'take it easy' and do some leg exercises and I'll do some surgery on it, but it'll never be back to 100% so get the fuck out of my office and here's a bill for $3k." Or "oh it seems you have carpal tunnel and some tendon/ligament damage... i guess you could do some surgey and some 'hand exercises' but it'll never be the same as it was before, oh btw here's a bill for $5k."
Even something not as critical like hair loss (which is psychologically damaging for men and especially so for women) still relies on the good old "go to Turkey to get a hair transplant. oh you want to actually grow your original hair back? too bad, even though we should have figured out that shit using stem cells by now."
That's not even mentioning the people suffering from things like chronic fatigue or long covid. They are basically tossed aside like a bad batch of vegetables. "oh yeah this batch is fucked, oh well maybe better luck with the next batch!"
I know I'm just venting here, but what's the fucking deal? Are we actually going to have legit regenerative medicine? Or will it always be "5 to 10 years away" for the rest of eternity?
There are thousands of rare diseases and conditions that have become effectively treatable in the past 20 years thanks to breakthroughs in medical technology. Stem cell treatment has been used to successfully treat some instances of paralysis, congenital teeth loss, blindness and others. Cancer and HIV survival rates are enormously better, but in most cases, if you don't have those diseases and conditions, there's no reason for you to hear about it.
The media sensationalises breakthroughs because journalists and the general public don't understand anything related to the field, so there's the impression that a new technology can immediately be used everywhere which is sadly not the case.