One of the most interesting things that has happened with the internet is some of the most basic assumptions about businesses and customers have been turned on their ear. Black becomes white. An example I have blogged about before is that Netflix used to be seen as one of the biggest competitors of film festivals like the Seattle International Film Festival, and today they can be one of their most powerful partners. It’s not always easy to know when these “flips” happen, but they are happening with increasing frequency and I think it’s really important for organizations to frequently test there core assumptions. I was reminded of this phenomenon earlier today.
There was an interesting article in The New York Times this morning that talked about a drug called Xiaflex, “A Drug’s Delayed Triumph” by Andrew Pollack. Xiaflex is one of those drugs that had been around for decades but never got a foothold until now. Why? For the simple reason that people didn’t know that it cured Dupuytren’s contracture, which I learned this morning is a surprisingly common condition where a person cannot straighten one or more of their fingers – Ronald Reagan was a famous victim of this. It’s not such an unusual situation that a drug is invented for one purpose but it ends up solving a very different problem. The drug that solved “Involuntary Leg Syndrome” was designed for a very different purpose, and it was only in clinical trials that they noticed that it did wonders for what is also a surprisingly common affliction. Essentially the drug makers learn “what” the drug does in trials and in the case of Xiaflex, it took decades to figure it out.
But that’s not what really got my attention.
What I found fascinating is that Xiaflex is based on something that most of us would want to run away from – gangrene.
Yes, that gangrene.
As the article describes, gangrene is really effective at breaking down human tissue which is usually a bad thing, but in the case of Dupuytren’s contracture, that’s exactly what is needed to cure this disease (in small doses). A clear understanding of “what” was needed to cure Dupuytren’s contracture made it painfully obvious that Xiaflex is the right solution. It’s not the first time a “disease” that we fear has become something we (or some) intentionally put in their bodies – botox is based on none other than botulism, another deadly disease in the wrong dosage.
My message is pretty simple, which when you have a “what” that you need to solve, don’t be surprised to find the solution from something that might have seemed like a “disease” yesterday. That’s the world we live in today.
-Ric
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