Yes, the author is serious that investors worry about losing billions of dollars. If your house or savings became worthless overnight, I suspect you'd be worried too.
It's a statement of fact. If UCARTs come to prominence on the market, Kite & Juno no longer appear to be the only game in town (or even the only CAR-T game in town!). Toss in some grade IV/V events in their clinical trials, and an investor in these companies might have reason to worry.
Individuals and societies can have conflicting priorities. Sometimes the same individual may be conflicted (plenty of oncologist friends invest in various companies, and are distressed if a competing company's drug blows their holdings' product out of the water, even as they consider switching patients to the more effective drug). Put differently, you can own a Tesla and hold Exxon stock ... and that does not make you a bad person.
Infant leukemia is (thankfully) rather rare. Nobody who's ever seen a cold, gray infant in a morgue drawer would ever say that those lives are worth less than some company's profits. But they might regret investing in the company!
It's a statement of fact. If UCARTs come to prominence on the market, Kite & Juno no longer appear to be the only game in town (or even the only CAR-T game in town!). Toss in some grade IV/V events in their clinical trials, and an investor in these companies might have reason to worry.
Individuals and societies can have conflicting priorities. Sometimes the same individual may be conflicted (plenty of oncologist friends invest in various companies, and are distressed if a competing company's drug blows their holdings' product out of the water, even as they consider switching patients to the more effective drug). Put differently, you can own a Tesla and hold Exxon stock ... and that does not make you a bad person.
Infant leukemia is (thankfully) rather rare. Nobody who's ever seen a cold, gray infant in a morgue drawer would ever say that those lives are worth less than some company's profits. But they might regret investing in the company!