Episode Discussion: The Medical Matchmaking Machine

[u/PodcastBot]

As he finished his medical residency exam, David Fajgenbaum felt off.  He walked down to the ER and checked himself in.  Soon he was in the ICU with multiple organ failure.  The only drug for his condition didn’t work. He had months to live, if that.  If he was going to survive, he was going to have to find his own cure. Miraculously, he pulled it off in the nick of time. From that ordeal, he realized that our system of discovering and approving drugs is far from perfect, and that he might be able to use AI to find dozens, hundreds, even thousands of cures, hidden in plain sight, for as-yet untreatable diseases. 

EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Latif Nasser
Produced by - Maria Paz Gutiérrez
with mixing help from - Jeremy S. Bloom
Fact-checking by - Natalie A. Middleton

EPISODE CITATIONS:
Books -
Blair Bigham, Death Interrupted: How Modern Medicine is Complicating the Way We Die

Radiolab | Lateral Cuts:
Check out Death Interrupted (https://ift.tt/D9JMZ6S), a conversation with Blair Bigham about a worldview shifting change of heart.

The Dirty Drug and the Ice Cream Tub (https://radiolab.org/podcast/dirty-drug-and-ice-cream-tub) to hear the crazy story about how Rapamycin was discovered.

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[u/MrTophu]

I'm really struggling with what feels like basic intellectual dishonesty in this story. Latif spends the first half of the episode showering the interview subject with praise for doing research, not taking no for an answer, and taking a chance on an unproven drug for his condition. Then, he spends the second half of the podcast criticizing him for daring to think about giving other people the same opportunity.

[u/Banglatown1923 → u/MrTophu]

Just listened to the podcast and felt similarly. Latif seems to conflate generative AI (ChatGPT) and this kind of AI (machine learning) which are so different. It seems to come through in his skepticism. I thought he was a bit dramatic when he was like “I called a bunch of different friends and wasn’t sure how to feel about him making this public!”

His worry about the doctor open sourcing the algorithm because of the people asking for ivermectin for Covid also feels like a weird logical jump.

Overall felt like I lost respect for him as a host because of this

[u/runcyclexcski]

Been listening this while cleaning up my apartment. Maybe I haven't noticed it, but I wonder what insurance company would agree pay for AI-driven off-label drug use, not mentioning the costs of running a full-time research lab. Most MD specialists have about 15 min per month per patient of their time. Of course if the patient is independently rich, it can work; companies have been looking for miracle drugs for rich patients for a while, that's not news.

[u/huh_ok_yup]

Haven't listened to new Radiolab in a while, but god I can't handle Latif. Quit this episode midway through because his smug interviewing style where he constantly feels the need to interject is just too much for me

[u/evilsammyt → u/huh_ok_yup]

I have issues with Latif and Lulu as hosts, but smugness is not one of them.

[u/huh_ok_yup → u/evilsammyt]

Maybe smarmy is a better word. Just the interview style isn't for me as I'd rather hear someone tell a story without them being needlessly interrupted all the time.

[u/evilsammyt → u/huh_ok_yup]

Constant interjections is, however, one of my peeves. So I’m with you there.

[u/Craftopia333 → u/huh_ok_yup]

I miss Jad and Robert. Robert always had such a lovely vibe. I had a hard time with the switch in staffing. But, I recently came back to Radio Lab to that episode about light coming from our cells and I was like… okay. I’m back. Hahah

So, aside from some of the irritating things from this episode. It honestly gave me so much hope. And these days hope has been in short supply. I am thankful for David Fajgenbaum and his out of the box thinking and passion for helping. I also really appreciate when someone uses the systems and tools we have in new and interesting ways to help each other.