>he said it takes 10-20 years for meaningful advances in medicine to show up in general use

Could it be that it takes that long to determine whether those advances are actually worthwhile? I can’t count the number of HN posts I’ve seen touting breakthroughs in medical research that ultimately didn’t pan out.

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zargon 6 days ago | parent [-]

No, this is the time it takes for the proven treatment advances to reach rank-and-file doctors (and insurance policies). I've read the numbers 17 to 22 years I think. There are studies on this, but I don't have references handy.

	▲	refurb 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		That’s not true in my experience. Look at the adoption of CAR-T therapies. It took 3-4 years before they were regularly used in the US.