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Archives | (April 2003)
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FEDERAL FRANKENSTEINS: PART TWO SCIENTIFIC AMBITION ECLIPSES ETHICS
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------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 2 of 6 THE GENESIS OF A NIGHTMARE Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women with approximately 182,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Efforts to promote early detection have greatly improved survival rates with 96% of women with localized breast cancer surviving five years. These figures decline in direct proportion to the extent the cancer has spread. If it is metastasized only one in five victims reach the five-year survival mark. The high incidence of breast cancer has made it one of the “hot” areas for research funding. It is small wonder that it was attractive to The Hutch. One problem facing breast cancer survivors is that like other cancers, breast cancer often returns. More important, when it does, it may have become resistant to chemotherapy drugs. As this occurs there are fewer and fewer treatment options available. Ultimately, some breast cancer patients are advised to undergo stem cell transplants. Similar to bone marrow transplants, stem cell transplants involve infusing immature cells into a patient whose bone marrow has been destroyed through high-dose radiation and chemotherapy. The idea is to have new marrow grow from the stem cells. The only trouble is that the combination of high-dose radiation and massive doses of chemotherapy can destroy a patient’s organs. Doctors essentially bring the patient to the brink of death in an attempt to save them. If a way to protect the organs could be discovered, stem cell transplants might become more practical. A 34 –year old researcher at The Hutch, Dr. James Bianco thought he had come up with the solution. In a preliminary study of 30 patients, it appeared that a drug called PTX, normally used to treat leg cramps, might protect the liver, kidney and digestive system from the effects of chemotherapy. In other words it could be used as what they call a “rescue drug” – a way to keep the treatment from killing the patient. His claims were so dramatic they were hard to believe – for example that only 3% of the patients on PTX suffered kidney damage from chemotherapy. A second test showed the doubts to be justified. Rather than 3%, 39% of the patients taking PTX suffered kidney damage – more than were taking the placebo. But Bianco was undeterred. WISHFUL THINKING?Reviewing the files of the previous experiment, he saw that 10 of the patients who did not suffer kidney damage were also taking the antibiotic Cipro and the steroid prednisone. This combination, Bianco postulated was what provided the protection. How Bianco came to this conclusion is a mystery to experts on medical research. Pulling ten files at random hardly constitutes proof – it is more in the realm of wishful thinking. But the lack of real evidence didn’t seem to phase the ambitious doctor. He knew that there was enormous commercial potential in a drug that could make chemotherapy less destructive. He set up a company, Cell Therapeutics Inc., or CTI, to research and develop a drug based on a combination of Cipro and prednisone. He and another doctor left The Hutch to pursue the research full time, but not before he had cut the Center in on the deal and recruited two of its founders for his board. |
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