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Linda J Herman wrote: >Many PWP feel strongly that we must never allow another pharmaceutical to >treat human subjects in this unethical manner again. We will continue to >do whatever we can to convince Amgen to reinstate treatment for the >current trial patients and to further develop GDNF for other patients or >allow another company to do so. There is substantial evidence that GDNF >works -- and it might be available alot sooner than other treatment >methods that are still in pre-clinical stages today. > > > There is another side to this: A drug company has to be very careful of how it makes experimental Drugs available. Let us say they would agree to make GDNF available to PD patients because they felt it was the right thing to do. Let us also assume that the company would require a waiver from the patients. Sounds good so far. But now, after several months severe side effects show up and some of the patients decide to sue the company, just as they are suing now, but in the opposite direction. It is likely that the patients would win the suit despite the waivers. This would be an unacceptable risk for the company, which is probably why they are taking such a hard line. Especially since there appears to be reason to be cautious based on the test evidence (which may not be complete). But the courts would certainly look at that and conclude that the company was reckless, and that the patients deserve monetary compensation. It would also reflect badly on the public image of the company. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn