More of an inspiration for the trope is the simple economic fact that drugs that suppress symptoms while leaving the body to fight a disease on its own are both cheaper to make and can be sold more often than outright cures—especially as many such symptoms are actually the body's effort to fight the disease; for example, cold "medicine" suppresses coughing and sneezing, but this is meant to eject contaminants from the body in phlegm and mucus. Suppressing it makes colds last longer—and conveniently, buy more cold "medicine". Same with fevers; an attempt by the body to literally burn out an infection that just happens to put a person through extended discomfort, and lowering fevers with drugs often extends the sickness that caused them. Even allergy medicine can fall into this trap - histamine reactions are due to the body (over)reacting to contaminants like pollen and animal dander as if they were infections, and taking antihistamines while one is actually sick can extend the disease. Many drugs have been discovered that are significantly more effective than those commonly sold, but that very effectiveness means that fewer units of it can be sold. Add in that the better drugs are usually more expensive to manufacture, and they are almost impossible to find.note At least in countries without socialized medicine; many OTC prescriptions that go for hundreds of dollars in the US are cheaper than cough syrup in Canada and the UK.
I'm not sure how to put it nicely, but... I know a lot about what's involved in pharma research, and what actually usually happens—by the time you'd have actually proven that you've got a cure? You've sunk enough money into it that you're going to be doing an advertising blitz to sell as many units as you can before the patent runs out.
Usually what happens is problems with red tape and, well, a near-certainty that the general public will confuse that 'some protection' is actually 'near immunity'—much like the original troper—and one of them will prove both Too Dumb to Live and capable of finding an Ambulance Chaser to sue you for their stupidity.
The thing that's really the kicker? The cure for the common cold is actually considered so difficult to find that there's skepticism that it even exists within the medical research community...and you're absolutely certain to get eternal fame (among many other things) if you manage to find it. It's not likely to be at all worth it to keep it secret unless it regularly has a side effect of doing something like turning you into anEldritch Abomination...and I'd not be too confident in success in keeping it quite even then.
Removed from the Real Life section:
I'm not sure how to put it nicely, but... I know a lot about what's involved in pharma research, and what actually usually happens—by the time you'd have actually proven that you've got a cure? You've sunk enough money into it that you're going to be doing an advertising blitz to sell as many units as you can before the patent runs out.
Usually what happens is problems with red tape and, well, a near-certainty that the general public will confuse that 'some protection' is actually 'near immunity'—much like the original troper—and one of them will prove both Too Dumb to Live and capable of finding an Ambulance Chaser to sue you for their stupidity.
The thing that's really the kicker? The cure for the common cold is actually considered so difficult to find that there's skepticism that it even exists within the medical research community...and you're absolutely certain to get eternal fame (among many other things) if you manage to find it. It's not likely to be at all worth it to keep it secret unless it regularly has a side effect of doing something like turning you into an Eldritch Abomination...and I'd not be too confident in success in keeping it quite even then.
Edited by AnoSa