[oldalum]

 But impractical and challenging is not the same as impossible.

Yes you're right of course and I appreciate your detailed explanation. My recollection of why Gardner thought it was "impossible" was because of the volume required to deliver a sufficient amount of drug, which was much larger than that of a patch. Seeing the other quote jogged my memory, the specific type of drug was antibiotic, and the volume required to deliver the requisite amount of antibiotic over several days is too great to fit in a patch. As you wrote, that doesn't mean it's impossible for all time. But as you say, she could have used the word "impossible" as shorthand for so beyond current means that it is impractical to start a company to develop a way to do it.

What I found interesting/new in the article was that she claims she distrusted her from the start, the very first meeting, as a "sixth sense." In other articles she describes how Holmes often came and gave talks to Stanford students and she was unhappy about exposing them to her, but I never read that she distrusted her personally from the start.

[oldalum]

 But impractical and challenging is not the same as impossible.

Yes you're right of course and I appreciate your detailed explanation. My recollection of why Gardner thought it was "impossible" was because of the volume required to deliver a sufficient amount of drug, which was much larger than that of a patch. Seeing the other quote jogged my memory, the specific type of drug was antibiotic, and the volume required to deliver the requisite amount of antibiotic over several days is too great to fit in a patch. As you wrote, that doesn't mean it's impossible for all time. But as you say, she could have used the word "impossible" as shorthand for so beyond current means that it is impractical to start a company to develop a way to do it.

What I found interesting/new in the article was that she claims she distrusted her from the start, the very first meeting, as a "sixth sense." In other articles she describes how Holmes often came and gave talks to Stanford students and she was unhappy about exposing them to her, but I never read that she distrusted her personally from the start.