A recent report pairing one news story in which doctors fretted over the likelihood that super-expensive biotech drugs would inevitably lead to rationing with another in which Wall Street was cheering over a huge surge in Genentech's earnings prompted one reader to note the irony. On the one hand, biotech companies are criticized by providers and patients when their new products bust the bank, while Wall Street uses the other hand to applaud the bottom line results. That dichotomy will continue as long as patients need new therapies and biotechs continue to flourish in a market economy. But there are new methods that can be tried to open up sources of expensive meds to those who can't pay for it. As the tab keeps on getting bigger, biotech companies need to recognize that no patient should be forced to pay for their poverty with their lives. - John Carroll