In episode 86 of the Podcast for Social Research, live-recorded at BISR Central, BISR’s Ajay Singh Chaudhary and Danya Glabau sat down with fellow faculty Nafis Hasan to celebrate the launch of his new book, Metastasis: The Rise of the Cancer-Industrial Complex and the Horizons of Care. Nafis kicks off the discussion with a briefing on the successful cultivation of cancer cures for mice, but not humans, fundamental failures at the clinical level, the rise of cancer as a household name, and the blockbuster drug moving for $500,000 a shot. The three then discuss the primacy placed, among researchers, on genetic mutations above environmental causes, the notion of “financial toxicity,” and what it means to critique medical research at a moment of widespread cuts to public health institutions. Key questions arise along the way: why—despite the allocation of so many resources—are we not winning the war on cancer? Why has an entire political economy developed around genetic mutations, at the expense of public health campaigns—a more proven mitigator of cancer-related deaths? Why is capitalism so embedded in efforts to defeat cancer, and is there any alternative?

Note: The Novartis drug with a half-million dollar price tag mentioned at the top of the podcast is Kymriah, not Keytruda.

The Podcast for Social Research is produced by Ryan Lentini.

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