Why Medical Research is Not Fast(er)

[Guest guest]

Ah,

the complexity of life…

Internet

could change clinical research

Researchers have begun using the Internet to recruit

eligible participants for clinical trials from all over the country in a

shortened period of time, reducing the nine to 18 months usually needed to find

clinical trial participants to a mere eight weeks for one study. Internet-based

trials also reduce skewed results by ensuring allocation concealment, but some researchers remain

concerned that the participants in Internet studies are not representative of

the population as a whole, possibly leading to

different treatment from the FDA due to data quality or integrity.

FasterCures urges passage of " Save America's Biotechnology Innovation Research " Act

FasterCures yesterday joined 60 other disease advocacy groups and state

biotech associations in urging the congressional leadership to eliminate a

regulatory barrier that is impeding innovative research. The bipartisan

legislation would restore eligibility for Small Business Innovation Research

grants to majority venture capital-backed biotech and medical device companies.

" We need to reward companies making high-risk, high gain investments in

medical research, " said FasterCures President Greg Simon. " Instead,

we're punishing small companies that are doing important and innovative

research simply because of the way they are funded.”

Survey:

Research watchdogs alienate researchers

U.S. experiments that involve human subjects must be reviewed by

institutional review boards, but many researchers are increasingly frustrated

with the boards' demands and respond by breaking

research rules, like beginning data

collection before approval. One-third of respondents

in a survey conducted by the NIH reported engaging in one of 10 types of

misconduct in the past three years,

and misconduct rates were highest for researchers who also reported being unfairly

treated by governing bodies such as IRBs.

***

Yup…it’s a

mess out there.

http://www.fastercures.org/sec/why_necessary

Why

haven't we made more progress against a broad range of diseases? Why, 40 years

after President Nixon declared war on cancer, do we still not have a cure for a

disease that kills more than 1,500 Americans every day? Why hasn't the amazing

advance of computer power since the invention of the microchip done more to

accelerate better treatments and cures? FasterCures

intends to answer these questions - and challenge the notion [are you listening, Lee?] that

medical research can advance only at a stately pace.

Think

about what a difference a year's acceleration in finding medical solutions

would make in people's lives.

Finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes just one year sooner could save

hundreds of thousands from blindness, amputation of limbs, or premature death.

Accelerating a cure for breast cancer by one year would not only

prevent some half a million deaths worldwide, but it would save millions of

women from painful and disfiguring treatments.

It's not

that progress has ground to a halt. Advancing medical science continues to

amaze us. But there is no systematic effort to address the tangle of regulation,

misplaced priorities and conflicting incentives that slow progress in an era in

which the cure for so many diseases is tantalizingly close.

FasterCures

will not fund research or try to reform the delivery of healthcare. While those

tasks are vital, others are working hard on them. What we will do is devise

ways to increase the productivity of the sprawling apparatus dedicated to

advancing medical solutions. Our goal is to ensure that this crucial sector of

our society is functioning as effectively as possible.

***

FasterCures is not a “conspiracy

theorist” organization. FasterCures

is governed by a board of directors that includes Nobel laureates in medicine

and economics:

Baltimore, Ph.D.

is President of the California Institute of Technology and 1975 recipient of

the Nobel Prize for his work in virology.

" Engineering

Immunity: A Proposal, " Baltimore, M.D., Great Essays for Change

series.

PDF

version: HTML

version.

Ernest Bates, M.D. is a

board-certified neurosurgeon, Chairman and CEO of the American Shared

Hospital Services, and member of the Board of Trustees of s Hopkins

University.

" What is Slowing the

Search for Cures? " Ernest Bates, M.D., Great Essays for Change series.

PDF

version: HTML

version.

Becker, Ph.D. is a

professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago and a 1992 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic

Sciences.

" Power to the Patients, " Becker, Ph.D.,

Great Essays for Change series.

PDF

version: HTML

version.

B. Brewer, is the Managing Partner of Crest Asset Management.

G. Brinker

is the former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and Founder of the G. Komen

Breast Cancer Foundation.

L. Klowden

is President and CEO of the Milken Institute.

Gerald Levey,

M.D. is Provost and Dean of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine.

" Personalized Genetic Medicine: In Theory and In

Practice, " Gerald Levey, M.D., Great Essays

for Change series.

PDF

version: HTML

version.

Shmuel

Meitar is Director of the Aurec

Group and Vice Chairman of Aurec Ltd.

Merkin,

M.D. is CEO and Founder of the Heritage Provider Network.

" A Vision of the Future? " Merkin, M.D., Great Essays for Change series.

PDF

version: HTML

version.

Milken

is Chairman of the Milken Institute and Chairman of

FasterCures / The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions.

" A

Constant Advocate for Medical Progess, "

Milken, Letter to the Editor, The

Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2003.

" American Science, American Lives, "

Milken, The Wall

Street Journal, July 14, 2003. (PDF)

" Rethinking

the War on Cancer: Moving from a War of Attrition to a Plan of Attack, "

Milken, National Cancer Summit, November 14, 1995

A. Steinberg is

chairman and CEO of InPhonic and a member of the

board of directors for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.