> The "seriously...this is best science can do???" overtones are there.
Drug companies have billions of dollars for research, they have a legal framework where any advancement can be patented for decades and exploited in an almost limitless market for a cancer drug.
So the incentives seem to be there, the answer is one of two things: either this is the best science can do at this time, or something is fundamentally fucked up in the way we approach science and apply it to real life problems.
There's nothing else I can think of that compares. Being a "technical person", I struggle with some embarrassment talking to them. The "seriously...this is best science can do???" overtones are there.