An interview I did in Washington DC with Dr. Mehmet Oz about clinical trials and about Chasing Medical Miracles is up on Oprah radio. You can visit it here to listen to the first 10 minutes of the interview. The remainder of the show can be accessed if you subscribe to Sirius or X-FM satellite radio networks.

The editors at Booklist have named Chasing Medical Miracles one of the best adult books of the year for 2009. In their criteria the editors write: “The Adult Books editors have selected the following titles as representative of the year’s outstanding books for public-library collections. Our scope has been intentionally broad, and we have attempted to find books that combine literary, intellectual, and aesthetic excellence with popular appeal.” (More here.)

Medical Miracles was named in the category of Social Sciences. The citation reads: “Clinical trial participant O’Meara chronicles his experience and sweeps through the $24-million-per-annum clinical-trials industry, which generally escapes media scrutiny. Includes an invaluable checklist for prospective trial participants.

[SafeMinds director Jim] Moody is obviously an idiot. The same holds true for any parent who selectively chooses research – especially what is now discredited research – in order to bolster an opinion to justify providing substandard medical care to their own children. These clinical trials results are being selectively ignored or embraced at convenience because for parents to continue to hold the opinion that vaccinations cause autism when the research stating that has been disproven is not only stupid but dangerous.

The Clinical Journal of Oncology says in a new study that researchers with the greatest influence over cancer clinical trials also have the closest financial ties to the pharmaceutical and other industries that benefit from positive clinical trials’ results. This is a disturbing and alarming finding but, unfortunately, not surprising,

…On pages 49-51 of Chasing Medical Miracles I wrote, “Therapeutic misconception is also a significant issue and is thoroughly built in to how trials function today.” Things don’t get much clearer than that. I only hope that now, with this story about Dr. Stratton in the New York Times today, pehaps people with the power to change this deplorable practice in research will start to listen and change things…

A story headlined “Cutting-edge therapy is one reason why many participate in clinical trials” in the Indianapolis Star by Barb Berggoetz about why people enroll in clinical trials is indicative of an overall bias on behalf of the media toward encouraging participation in trials. Most stories about trials stress the positive outcomes. Some are so blatant as to almost seem like a public service announcement for the institution or business conducting the trial. The articles, like the one below, always mention risks. But, like I wrote in Chasing Medical Miracles about my own experience becoming aware of the real risks of any trial: “The trial up until now had been like taking a trip to Disney World. Before your plane takes off they tell you in detail what to do if it becomes a fireball of screaming death and dives nose first into the ground. But you don’t hear that part. You’re too busy thinking about shaking hands with Goofy.”

Amazing. Truly amazing. The news today is that an AIDS vaccine has shown remarkable progress in clinical trials in Thailand. (Read AP story here.) There have been more than 100 AIDS vaccine trials in the last 20 years and none of them have gotten close to showing the kind of promise this one is showing. However, as we all know, it is only promise – not a cure or preventative. Much can go wrong. As one scientist soberly said about the findings of the trial: Now the work begins.

Having travelled to and spent time in eastern Africa to research Chasing Medical Miracles …

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and others, including some editors of medical journals are saying they will work to curtail ghostwriting in medical journals. This self-regulated practice of allowing journals and the scientific community to police itself is apparently not working because now up to 11 percent of articles in medical journals are ghostwritten, according to an article in todays New York Times which you can read here.

Of course everyone would agree it is long past time this issue was resolved ,,,

A vaccine against the H1N1 viral strain – or swine flu – was approved yesterday by the FDA after a lightening round of clinical trials that are still, in fact, continuing to be conducted on some populations, including children and pregnant women. In the shadow of this good news however comes news that the vaccine might arrive too late to address the peak of the expected flu season …

Published results of clinical trials so far indicate one dose of the vaccine being tested could be enough to inoculate the more than 159 million people in the U.S. who are expected to be at risk to contract the flu this season. That’s good news but – and this is big – these trials are being hurried along. The process as much as the vaccine is a test and the results could be surprising in unanticipated ways. I am loathe to be a downer about this (although I appear to one of the only ones who is not doing backflips over the apparent success so far of all efforts in HINI clinical trials) because the effort to test the vaccine is impressive, appropriate, and in the best interest of the public health. But, as always, stay tuned for all shoes to hit the ground.

In other news, the American Medical News examines the ethical considerations of outsourcing pharmaceutical clinical trials to developing countries, a topic close to my heart since my trip to Uganda to see the unfortunate exploitation of people there ..