Most ME researchers have this same type of interview... way more ideas than money, very little true progress year after year due to lack of funding, etc. Even if he had funding, research is painfully slow and remember he is only one single lab.
When I see interviews of well funded researchers in other diseases when they give updates from the year or two before it’s typically not a big leap at all once you filter through the excitement and optimistic hyperbole lab heads typically exhibit. When the dust settles it’s just very incremental progress.
The way things happen somewhat faster is when there are like 30+ very well funded labs in a hyper-competitive environment racing to beat each other. Not like what see with ME currently.
So to be blunt but realistic, it is much more likely that it will take many years to decades before we have some actionable answers and potential treatments.
The only way this could be shortcut, which is low probability, is by almost happy accident finding some already FDA approved drug that works or e.g. there is some miracle shortcut like long COVID research answering something that applies to us. But via the slow march of basic research happening currently in ME world this is going to take forever.
Im in my mid 40s and have come terms that there will probably not be an effective treatment that comes before I’m already old. ME already makes me feel everyday like I’m 90 years old so what difference will it make then.
