Clinical trial offers hope for diabetics… (from NYT): “The drug Lucentis can improve eyesight being lost to diabetes, researchers reported on Tuesday, a finding they hailed as a major advance in combating a common cause of blindness.

The finding comes from a large government-sponsored clinical trial that tested the drug, which is made by Genentech, as a treatment for the condition known as diabetic macular edema…”

A Ugandan health official said no trials were conducted at IDI. I was left wondering what was accurate: some trials, no trials, or lots of trials. What I was sure of was that Pfizer appeared to be a slippery operation when it came to trials . Recent articles have showed this to be true:

Interesting, disturbing story…: “…researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have gathered evidence indicating that some trials explicitly exclude individuals based on their sexual orientation.”

The article will probably have hundreds if not thousands of cancer patients running to their computers and phones to try and get into a trial – any trial – because this article has led them to believe trials can provide a cure. Promoting that kind of false hope is not only bad journalism, it’s just plain mean to patients seeking a cure for cancer.

Short but sweet review of Chasing Medical Miracles on eHealth.com by John W. Sharp that concludes, “I would recommend this book for anyone involved in clinical research, whether in Pharma, medicine or as a patient.”

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…