Chinese labor was imported to build the railroads in the late 1880's. The labor was labor and the Chinese brought their natural remedies to cure the physical pain. Snake oil. Or to be more precise water snake oil from water snakes that carried fat, minerals, and vitamins not common to American rattlesnakes.
A fellow named Stanley Clark not disturbed by scientific minutae promoted Snake Oil for two decades with tall tales of snake farms and miracle cures. Inconveniently the Pure Food and Drug Act passed in 1906 after muckraking, now known as investigative, journalists wrote exposes and Upton Sinclair published The Jungle detailing the conditions of the Meatpacking industry. In 1917 government investigators got their hands on Clark's snake oil to find there was no snake oil in the snake oil. Mr Clark paid a fine and slithered off into the sunset.
Life science executives today make tall promises about the potential of molecules which require seven years and $500 million to develop. These promises are made in the gathering of public securities markets that are the source for business models that expect to accumulate losses of over $100 million funded with equity before questions are asked askance or the molecules fail to deliver on executive promises.
It is unusual to find a life science executive that will not couch public statements in the veneer of safe harbor protection. But when one does come along the ticket is worth the price of admission.
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