Many of my prior posts about Provenge have discussed the issue of what appeared to be a conflict of interest of some of the members on the FDA advisory committee that reviewed the drug. When the committee voted to recommend that Provenge be approved, among those members who voted against the approval were Drs. Scher [...]
I have had the privilege of working with Leslie Mulkey, an independent video producer on a short "You Tube" video about Provenge. Our hope is that our question, "Should terminally ill patients have access to promising new therapies?" will become a part of the next national presidential debate. You can view our video by clicking [...]
An opinion piece written by Ronald Trowbridge and Steven Walker appeared today in the WSJ. The piece is centered on the recent decision of the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed its own smaller panel’s 2 to 1 decision to allow dying, terminal patient’s access to investigational drugs that have been found to [...]
Today’s Wall Street Journal (8-2-07) had a front-page piece entitled Burden of Proof: Cancer Drug Fails, So Maker Tries New Pitch. Geeta Anand of the Wall Street Journal wrote it. The story is about Garo Armen and the biotech company, Antigenics Inc., which he founded 12 years ago and at a cost of 300 million [...]
Recently, there has been uproar in the prostate cancer community over the FDA's handling of the approval of Provenge. The conflict between patients looking for new treatments and the FDA's attempt to protect the public is one with a long-standing history and with complex dynamics. The new activism of the prostrate cancer community is one [...]