peterg Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I'm not sure if the following is true but I read it somewhere. President Nixon gave the US drug companies huge sums of money to find cures for cancer. That money still gets voted every year. However no major step forward has been made as, in the USA, the doctors get sued (by the relatives) if they trial new drugs on cancer victims who then die. Even though they were going to die anyway! So, no new drugs are trialed in the USA. It's not true Norman... there are at any one time thousands of drug trials going on in the USA and indeed most other countries of any size in the 'developed world' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I think the huge funds voted for cancer drugs is true. I also suspect that there may be an element of truth in the litigation story. I meant cancer drug trials, not all drug trails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I think there's also an element to this that only you can answer; back in my student days, I know a few that did this as a way of making a little extra cash. I remember chatting to them about it, thinking it was "easy" money and I'd give it a go. Despite the horror stories, not one of them had actually had, or met anyone who'd had any issues. But the one thing that I do remember, and the thing that changed my mind was a couple of them pointing out that you had to live the rest of your life with the knowledge of what you'd done. And that everytime they got ill subsequently, they always had that (irrational) worry gnawing away at the back of their minds - was it related to the trial? Of course it never was! The rest, didn't give two hoots and never thought about it once the trials were done. But I realised I'd be in the first camp, always wondering... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterg Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I think the huge funds voted for cancer drugs is true. I also suspect that there may be an element of truth in the litigation story. I meant cancer drug trials, not all drug trails. I guess you're talking about this... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Cancer as far as I'm aware there is currently no reason for not being able to run a CT study in the US for cancer treatments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pistonbroke Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Compare the billions that the drugs co's make from flogging the pills against the miserly few quid you get for putting your health at risk. Its bowlloks! ( bowlloks! ) ( I like that ) Let the fat cats use there own kin for there own experiments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Bernie, I think you may be referring to that place on the River Lee at Bow where the locks are. Yes, they are Bow Locks. Peter, OK, I'll accept that it was a myth, but it was in the Sunday Times, not the DM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterg Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Compare the billions that the drugs co's make from flogging the pills against the miserly few quid you get for putting your health at risk. Let the fat cats use there own kin for there own experiments fair enough Bernie, but don't have a go when a nearest and dearest of yours can't be saved as the possible cure hasn't been licenced due to a lack of testing they are tests, not experiments and have been tested as much as possible in many other ways before any human comes near them but sooner or later someone has to be the first to try it out. I, and I expect a lot of others on this forum wouldn't be here now but for drug developments over the last 40-50 years... I'm not going to try and defend the 'fatcat' jibe, suffice to say the place I work for donates around 25% of their profits to charity in cash and products as do many other drug companies (for comparison, according to Forbes, the average across all companies in their top 2000 list is just over 1% of annual profits) R&D costs the drug companies billions and they have a relatively scant few years to recoup that before the licence expires and the generic products flood the market produced at minimal cost because those companies have had to do almost no testing... one of our major products expired last year and within a couple of months sales dived 82% - how do they discover new cures and treatments without having the money to pay for all the research, development and testing first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echoz Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 Fyi re sperm banks - Im sure they changed the law so kids born by donor now have the right no find their biological father this is true, was a big documentary on it a while ago now that emphasised how many men were put pf doing so through fear of being called up later in life and being made to paid child support etc etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff oakley Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 We have several places with high security where there are many who could be used to further this research! Instead of community service let them do it, lets face it these would probably be the safest drugs they will ever take! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander72 Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I'm in my 40's, I climb trees every day with a chainsaw, I use a chipper, the type of which that 14 people last year, I play first team rugby every saturday, I have small car built in a garage that i drive quickly, and i ride my massive horse that has a mind of a 3 year old child on acid.... (1bhp is harder to control than 200 if he decides to b******* off) a clinical trial cant be that risky can it for a couple of grand??? where do i sign,,,,,,, 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander72 Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 edit - killed 14 people last year globally.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 I was wondering if your chipper was possessed Stephen King style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander72 Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 nope, just loads of numpties fall into them and get minced --- makes a teriible mess in the flywheel..... better if you freeze them first.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echoz Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 Really appreciate all the input, especially from all those that are "in the know". I asked because I signed up to the linked company in my original post, and get emails every so often with new trials, and I'm not going to lie, but being 22, living at home, with a dead end job (although hopefully, if today went as well as I thought it did, that should soon be changing) a dying car, no personal belongings other than a laptop and a phone, and a passion for music and wanting to learn to produce my own music which requires items I simply can't afford, £4150 sticks out in that email like a sore thumb! Like has been said though, it's a strange concept to purposefully do something that could make you really ill and was curious to see how others felt about it. If anyone is interested or could shed any light, this is what the trial is for (copied straight from the email) We are conducting a clinical trial of a new medicine known as lomitapide. Lomitapide is being developed for the treatment of rare and severe lipid disorders such as Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia, (HoFH). HoFH is a disease in which patients have very high cholesterol levels of LDL (or "bad" cholesterol), and it is a condition inherited from both parents. Lomitapide has previously been tested in over 1,000 non-Japanese healthy volunteers and patients in a number of clinical trials to assess its safety, tolerability and effectiveness. The aim of the study is to assess the safety of lomitapide and how well it is tolerated when given to Japanese volunteers with hyperlipidemia (elevated LDL-C, or bad cholesterol levels) compared to Caucasian volunteers, following single and multiple oral doses. ......... This study will take approximately 70 days to complete, including the time taken before the start of study to determine if you are eligible to participate. The study will involve a 'dietary run-in' part (one residential stay of 5 nights and 6 days; Day 1-Day 6) to determine the amount of "bad" cholesterol in your blood. After this has been completed, only volunteers with blood lipid (LDL-C) levels higher than 120mg/dL will continue the study to completion. If you are not included in the study after Day 6; you will be discharged at this point and therefore your involvement in the study will be for a shorter period i.e. approximately 27 days to complete. If you are included in the study after Day 6, you will be required to stay at our clinical unit for a further period of 35 days and 34 nights. The residential stay may be extended if necessary for your safety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander72 Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 or to look at it another way, you are 22, you have a job, a laptop, no mortgae to pay, a car (westfield i guess). That money is £59.28 a day over the 70 days..... less than minimum wage brother....... think long and hard...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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