The big business of cancer is ... well ... really big business. Right now, in Chicago, academic and business leaders in the life sciences industry are convening at the four-day Biotechnology Industry Organization's annual convention, billed as the red-hot industry's information-packed extravaganza of networking and marketing. At the McCormick Place Convention Center, 33 states and 22 countries and regions are represented during business meetings, 200 panel discussion sessions, networking opportunities, luncheons, gala receptions, parties and 30-minute meetings that are a form of speed dating with potential commercial partners.

According to the reporter covering the event, the convention becomes an international media circus, with politicians showing up looking to gain support during election years, as well as groups of protesters taking issue with the use of biotechnology to alter the genes of humans, plants and animals.

There are pavilions set up with whiskey, wine, beer, and even an oxygen bar to entice a visitor's attention and create buzz during the convention. Actor Richard Roundtree, cancer survivor, spoke at the convention last year. Musical artists Patti LaBelle and Melissa Etheridge and golfer Arnold Palmer have appeared as speakers. This year, former President Bill Clinton and NBA legend Magic Johnson will be featured speakers. Quite a shindig, but there are millions and millions of dollars at stake. Medicine is big business -- very big business indeed. How this translates for the cancer patient can be worrisome, if treatments are motivated primarily by the competitive nature of commerce and big profit. A peek inside the convention is very revealing.