Hearing him discuss his disease in huerta memorial hospital suddenly sparked an idea about something that would have greatly boosted Thane's ability to survive and perform physical activity. He said the problem was with the Drell equivalent of hemoglobin (bit of a retcon from previously saying the issue was with his lungs in ME2 but we'll roll with it), and its ability to transport oxygen. So his blood can't transport enough oxygen and he essentially suffers from hypoxia until it becomes fatal.
Obviously he's never heard of Lance Armstrong.
All he needed to do was start blood doping, increasing the number of oxygen bearing cells in his system to account for lower levels of oxygen. Obviously not a permanent solution, but very, very easy and effective.
*EDIT: Also, from the conversation between the Alliance Marine who lost his leg and doctor at the back of the hospital, cloning organs and limbs is no trouble at all in the Mass effect Universe. All they would have to do is replicate Thane's blood cells (incredibly easy to do) or his lungs. He'd have been completely okay
Rather than a retcon (although it probably is), here is how I interpreted the pathophysiology of Kepral Syndrome by applying my knowledge of biology/medicine to a fictitious disease.
The writers said they initially based it off of Cystic Fibrosis, and Thane describes a similar pathophysiology in ME2. In ME3, he only very briefly discusses the terminal stage of the disease, in which he describes something more akin to Sickle Cell Anemia.
I always imagined the disease worked as follows:
Drell, having evolved in an arid climate, do not have the anatomical or physiological capacity to clear excessive moisture from their airways. This causes an accumulation of fluid, and secondary colonization by bacteria. This results in a persistent pneumonia, which - as Thane describes - is treated by antibiotics. Over time, the infection becomes resistant to antibiotics - also per Thane's description. The chronic inflammation in the lungs leads to secondary changes of the parenchyma - such as fibrosis - making it harder for the lungs to expand and harder for oxygen to enter the blood as the barrier to diffusion is now greater. Furthermore, as chronic/opportunistic infection continues, it sets him up for systemic infection - which would be a potentially terminal condition.
All that makes perfect sense, and is almost verbatim how Thane describes the disease in ME2. It is plucked straight from real life medical science.
Now, in ME3 he describes "malfolding of oxygen carrier proteins". If that does indeed occur, it would present an even further barrier to oxygen transport. In humans (actually all mammals), the hormone erythropoietin is produced in the kidney in response to low oxygen tension of the blood, and this hormone amps up the bone marrows production of red blood cells - which are packed full of hemoglobin to carry oxygen while mature. Hemoglobin, of course, is encoded by several genes, and the folding of the protein is carried out automatically and independently of erythropoietin. Thus exists a negative feedback loop for erythropoietin, via increased RBC production and increases O2 carrying capacity.
But, there is no need to suppose an alien species would form their equivalent of RBCs the same way. Simply observe the diversity of which various species across Earth produce oxygen carrying cells/proteins. The mammalian way I described above is not the only way to do it.
So here is my headcanon to round this out and make sense of a likely writing oversight
: Suppose that in Drell, an analogous hormone to erythropoeitin is actually produced by the lung which decreases in production with advanced Kepral Syndrome. Now, suppose that rather than their equivalent of RBC's being dependent upon this hormone for production, what the hormone actually does is regulate post-translational folding of their "hemoglobin" molecule- such that malfolded protein results in decreased oxygen carrying capacity, and properly folded results in increased. This would fine tune the blood to carry oxygen as needed.
But yes, my head canon aside - I agree with you. There is no reason that Thane could not be cured with the technology present in Mass Effect. And, indeed, they actually offered him a lung transplant (I assume via cloning) and he declined it. It isn't that he is fated to die - he is simply emo and WANTS to. You can read about this refusal in the Shadow Broker dossiers.
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