http://www.mddionline.com/article/tedmed-stem-cells
Glass had one clear message for the audience: “We must reconsider, we
must redefine, and we must recalculate what is acceptable risk. And that risk
must fit the emerging technologies and emerging therapies that hold the enormous
potential to transform the treatment of disease in the practice of
medicine.”
April, 16, 2012
http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304818404577345953943484054.html?mg=reno-secaucus-wsj
Jonathan D. Glass, professor of neurology and pathology at Emory
University School of Medicine and director of Emory ALS Center, is one of the
NP001 site investigators. He said he is concerned that "these people could hurt
themselves. Who knows what they are actually making in their
kitchen."
It just gets curiouser and curiouser.
To be fair, what Dr. Glass meant in the first quote is aggressive investigation within the relative safety of professional trials. I will be the first to admit that homebrew drug projects come with an enhanced element of risk due to incompetence or naivete.
ReplyDeleteamen brother. The post is completely unfair.
DeleteIs there not room for the patient to make informed risk decisions that would change the nature of formal clinical trials?
ReplyDeleteAs long as the physician/researcher who lives under a cloud of malpractice premiums makes all of the risk decisions, patients are simply passengers on an out-of-control train headed to a bad place in a hurry.