Great commentary piece on expanding access to experimental therapies by CMPI board member Mark Thornton MD.
Drugwonks understands the need for well designed studies to prove safety and efficacy. But given the extent to which political pressure shapes what tools are used, we are skeptical when demands for longer, slower studies of the randomized type are constantly invoked. And when such studies turn away patients willing to enroll and ignore molecular /genetic diversity that can lead to better treatment, quality of life and knowledge, we are downright cynical...
We have to turn the tide against those who want to spend more gathering data on drugs we already know how to use safely -- starting with the imperious IOM report written by it's conflicted panel ( I will get to this issue, I promise!) --- and increase spending on tools that allow more people to become an "army of one" in the war to defeat cancer and other illnesses.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117124379156005353-search.html?KEYWORDS=disease&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month
Drugwonks understands the need for well designed studies to prove safety and efficacy. But given the extent to which political pressure shapes what tools are used, we are skeptical when demands for longer, slower studies of the randomized type are constantly invoked. And when such studies turn away patients willing to enroll and ignore molecular /genetic diversity that can lead to better treatment, quality of life and knowledge, we are downright cynical...
We have to turn the tide against those who want to spend more gathering data on drugs we already know how to use safely -- starting with the imperious IOM report written by it's conflicted panel ( I will get to this issue, I promise!) --- and increase spending on tools that allow more people to become an "army of one" in the war to defeat cancer and other illnesses.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117124379156005353-search.html?KEYWORDS=disease&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month
