2 cancer expert Drs. have to have personal bodyguards

[donsu]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/04/news/docs.php


Doctors threatened for opposing drug


Two prominent prostate cancer experts have been threatened for opposing approval of a controversial new drug and are being protected by bodyguards as they attend the nation's largest cancer conference here.

The experts, Dr. Howard Scher, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Dr. Maha Hussain, of the University of Michigan, have received e-mail and other threats, said spokeswomen for Sloan-Kettering and for the cancer conference.

-snip-

Many investors also have made big bets on the stock of the drug's developer, Dendreon, a Seattle biotechnology company, whose stock has fluctuated wildly based on prospects for the drug. Some investors stood to profit if the drug was approved and others if it was rejected.

The FDA said in May that it would not approve Provenge without more evidence that it was safe and effective.

-snip-

"Intimidation or harassment is going to make qualified people think twice about serving in national positions," Hussain said in a brief conversation here at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. She said she would continue for now to serve on FDA advisory

-snip-

But both Scher and Hussain, who, unlike most of the panel members, actually treat patients who have prostate cancer, argued that the evidence fell short of proving the drug worked and that they did not want to give patients false hopes.
---------------------------


two Drs. not afraid of Bullys
gold stars all around

[Aviation Pro]

1. Who fucking named the drug "Provenge?"

Sounds like Revenge.

[firefox_fan]

3. Terrible name. Sounds like a bad title for an old scifi movie...

"Provenge of the prostates"

[Frustratedlady]

2. Our society has come to this?

For shame!

[Canuckistanian]

4. Threatening researchers?

Who would threaten a researcher?

Even die-hard, bigoted freepers wouldn't give a shit about what these guys are doing.

This is dirty corporate politics at it's worst, plain and simple.

[mhatrw]

5. Wow. What comes next? Big Pharma Witness Protection? n/t

[KoKo]

15. Traders are making money on Puts and Calls....with this...

article says if drug fails folks make money if it succeeds and money if it fails. Wall Street, Hedge Funds...etc.

[KamaAina]

6. I'll see your cancer doctors and raise you a diabetes doctor

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2871298&mesg_id=2871298

although here, it was the company that threatened him, incensed that he wouldn't help them cover up problems with their new drug.

[knitter4democracy]

7. That truly disgusts me.

All of it. Doctors are supposed to be able to speak the truth.

[Recursion]

8. Who was that doc who was murdered a couple of years back?

Found with (I think) his daughter in a bullet-ridden car in what the police said was a very professional hit?

He was working on something (I want to say autism) and was very vocal about how there wasn't a pharmacological solution for it and that it had an environmental and toxic cause.

Troubling...

[magellan]

10. It was 1996, Dr. Tsunao Saitoh

List of murdered/missing scientists

snip....

Also, in 1996 Dr. Tsunao Saitoh world class scientist, CJD, Alzheimer Disease neurological researcher was murdered along with his daughter in what LaJolla police call a very professional hit. Dr. Saitoh had been associated with HHMI, Columbia Univ. lab before taking a position at UCSD.

http://www.apfn.org/APFN/scientists.htm

[AuntPatsy]

9. What is further cause for worry is that this is old news really.

They arent the first and they won't be the last.

[TZ]

11. Not really surprising if you think about it

Any researcher working on anything controversial and high profile (abortion, stem cells, RU486, along with different drugs) is going to be threatened by the various whack jobs that seem to be in our society today. Lets also not forget the researchers that do animal testing, some of which have had to go to great lengths to conceal their identities, basically going into witness protection so to speak.
In this case it seems that there are people both pro and anti on this drug who have strong feelings (or stand to profit either way) so its not really fair to jump to the conclusion that its "Big Pharma out to assassinate anyone who disagrees with them". Its also likely there are some very sick and desperate cancer patients, involved in this which the article also points out.

[donsu]

14. neo cons murder - it's a business tool

nt

[Oak2004]

16. It doesn't even have to be controversial research

A friend of mine is an associate working with the MIT Media Labs. What, might you think, would be controversial about that? One of the researchers is a known Christian, and she and the department get hate mail from "Christians" who insist she is blasphemous or something for accepting the scientific method and practicing science and engineering.

Yep: our favorite "friends" advocating a return to the Dark Ages are at work threatening robotics geeks.

[farmboxer]

12. Kevin Trudeau

He told it like it is in his books. Just bought two more.

[NJCher]

17. did you get the fat burning one?

If so, what did you think?



Cher

[Eurobabe]

13. This is really sick, welcome to Big Pharma Capitalism