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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Blind Clinical Trials

Last week the Seattle Genetics manager of clinical programming accused of insider trading committed suicide.

One can't help thinking about the leadership of the cults once again. They all seem to know how their trials are going. They design their trials in a manner that allows them to manipulate the data. Dr. Aubrey Blumsohn had this to say about working with a drug company in the analysis of clinical trial data:

It’s hard to encourage anyone to speak out about poor practice in the current environment. This case sums up what has gone wrong with systems set in place to ensure safety and integrity in scientific medicine. It would help if regulators put as much effort into responding to serious critics and whistleblowers as they do producing glossy brochures and yet more guidance.


Dr. Fan committed the crime of using inside information to turn a nice profit for himself and his family. Sam Waksal did the same thing. Aubrey Blumsohn did something a little different. He didn't focus on helping the biotech company tell their story. He tried to tell the story that science would dictate.

What does it mean to have a blinded clinical trial? Who can we trust? Are we blinding the trials to ensure integrity?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The director of the Roslin Institute where Dolly the sheep was cloned by Keith Campbell, not by the more famous Sir Ian Wilmut, did the same.

Geron Corp invested heavily in 1999, yet Keith Campbell had already left in 1997.

Another cargo cult airport? No wonder it didn't work as the brains behind the feat had left.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3345225/I-didnt-clone-Dolly-the-sheep-says-prof.html

I refer you to the last sentence of the second paragraph for the director's demise.

http://www.vetscite.org/publish/items/001872/

Geron Corp bought a dud:

http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v17/n6/full/nbt0699_529.html