Han wrote:


Mike, this is something that is bedeviling medicine at the moment.
so it may seem funny and self-evident to you, but it is the reason
why some people are fine with a good medication, and others are not.
Example: ACE inhibitors are great high blood pressure drugs, but I
developed an irritating dry cough, and had to switch to another drug.
Other people are allergic to aspirin, and get asthmatic attacks.
That is definitely not funny. This type of thing is really setting
back the development of rationally designed drugs, and we are mostly
still in the age of taking stuff off a shelf and trying it out on
this that or another condition. Very disappointing, and extremely
expensive. One of just a couple of exceptions is Gleevec (Glievec),
which was rationally designed for a kind of leukemia, and has been
generally extremely effective.

Sorry Han - was not trying to say all of this was funny. Was just trying to
be funny. Sometimes it works, and sometimes...

--

-Mike-