The New York Times reports:
"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, received e-mail and other threats, according to spokeswomen for Sloan-Kettering and for the cancer conference.
It is not known who sent the threats. However, it is clear that the doctors’ public stance against the drug, Provenge, has inflamed the passions of some men with prostate cancer and patient advocates, who say the drug would offer hope to desperate patients with few or no alternatives.
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 along with the prospects for the drug. Some investors stood to profit if the drug was approved, and others if it was rejected.
The Food and Drug Administration said in May that it would not approve Provenge without more evidence that it was safe and effective. "
What a sad commentary if men of science, acting on their interpretation of evidence, must face threats in this manner. We hope that authorities root out those making the threats. And we wish that evidence, not emotion, would influence the public. As the Times reports:
"...both Dr. Scher and Dr. Hussain, who, unlike most of the panel members, actually treat patients with prostate cancer, ... argued that the evidence fell short of proving that the drug worked, and that they did not want to give patients false hope. Each doctor later wrote a letter to the F.D.A. reiterating their arguments."Posted by schwitz at June 5, 2007 06:44 AM | TrackBack