• Question: Is it possible that in the next decade there could be one cure for all diseases and disorders?

    Asked by SammieEnninful to Sian, Max, Francis, Ben on 13 Mar 2018. This question was also asked by PBB, Jana, emilys.
    • Photo: Sian Richardson

      Sian Richardson answered on 13 Mar 2018:

      I think that it is highly unluckily in the next decade, as people and diseases are so varied. There is increasing movement for more personalised medicine, by looking at your genes and tailoring treatment and drugs just for you. However it is unlikely one cure will cure everything

    • Photo: Ben Mulhearn

      Ben Mulhearn answered on 15 Mar 2018:

      I doubt we will ever be able to cure ALL diseases, but as Sian said we are getting better at treating some of them with gene therapies, and there is loads of research into things like cancer. I think the biggest hurdle will be diseases of old age like heart failure and dementia

    • Photo: Francis Man

      Francis Man answered on 15 Mar 2018:

      I’m going to go for a definite no, not in 10 years or ever at all.
      Diseases have so many different causes and mechanisms that there will never be one cure for all. Cancer will never disappear because it’s just something wrong going on inside the cells, and that will always happen at some point (but we might turn into a “no big deal” disease).
      Infectious diseases will simply evolve around our defenses over time.

      So we might develop excellent treatments that keep us alive and well for a long time, but we’ll never eradicate them all.

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