The False Hope Industry

On a cold, rainy day in 2008 I went to a presentation by Professor John Flannery of UC Berkeley at the University of Cape Town Medical School. The topic for the day was progress in retinal degenerative diseases.

The turn-out wasn’t bad - a few journalists, a few NGO people, a few patients and some doctors and researchers. Afterward, I waited outside for my editor who was picking me up on her way home (I was working for Health24 at the time). No doubt she’d ask how it went. Try as I may, I ...