I "love" how Google just throws in "rare diseases" in to this, via their press release, as somebody who lives with 2 rare diseases that affect my peripheral nervous system. Actually, one of the diseases I have was discovered in the early 2000s on NIH grant funds at the Mayo Clinic.<p>This sounds wild, but it is true: Rare diseases are an absolute cash cow, and everyone should watch this. Our healthcare system in the US will be unsustainable if orphan drugs are not regulated (Which is why I naturalized as an European Union citizen, in addition to being American. I fret and worry about getting proper access to medical care every single day.): <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/the-weekly/rare-diseases-orphan-drugs.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/the-weekly/rare-diseases-...</a><p>(I do not believe that healthcare for all is unsustainable, but an unregulated free market will make it unsustainable.)<p>Just in case anyone was wondering, it is common to have a rare disease, and they are unfathomly expensive to have. In the US, the definition of rare disease (which really should be called "orphan conditions" based on the law) is tied to "orphan drugs" which in theory can collectively benefit 10% of the general population. There are a ton of orphan drugs being approved at the moment, which cost between hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to millions per year, in the US. The European estimate on rare diseases is more realistic and 6-8% of the general population has a rare disease.<p>So, do not think think that it cannot happen to you. You are naive to believe otherwise.