Re: [North Georgia Democrats] Unintended consequences?

W Lorraine Watkins commented on her post in North Georgia Democrats. W Lorraine Watkins 10:06am Oct 2 btw when I was an NIH principle investigator we were prohibited from taking patents on anything developed with grant funds. Jonas Salk who developed his vaccine under private funding refused patents. Also from what I can see of this so called new drug for Ebola is simply industrializing a process for securing antibodies created by Ebola survivors, convalescent serum. This is a form of treatment that we have known about for well over 100 years. Hardly an innovative principle recently discovered. I am not saying it is not useful. It has been for years a treatment of last and sometimes first resort. Maybe they are on to something in more novel and reliable than this -- I don't know of it. Comment History W Lorraine Watkins 9:56am Oct 2 Natasha "marketable product"? Perhaps I should have specified scientific research. The US may well lead in development of profitable products but that is little more than applied science and development for the purposes of profit. It is not innovative. I understand the current philosophy of self interest and market principles applied to all aspects of living turns out the best possible life for all. Bunk. It is now provable bunk. It is why the US trails or is about to trail in research in many areas, prominently in medical research. Frank Gilkeson 9:51am Oct 2 no but we do have a moral (and security) obligation to help treat them in liberia. Mike Parker 9:13am Oct 2 Natasha is right. Suppose the US sent 10,000 doses of this drug to Liberia and it doesn't work. Or, it reduces death by 1%. How long before there are claims of the US sending poison to kill Muslims in Africa? Or, to kill black people in Africa? They are fighting an illness that kills about 50% of the time. If 'our' drugs don't save everyone ... we're part of the evil. I'm not saying don't care, walk away, doesn't matter. I'm saying we cannot blindly experiment on human beings. Natasha Stark 9:01am Oct 2 I should also probably add that since we're talking about a situation where the drug would need to be tested in another country there would also be import/export protocols that would need to be put in place. And since the end result of this research is going to be a marketable product, there would also have to be protocols around the protection of intellectual property in a foreign country as well. Natasha Stark 7:49am Oct 2 Ok do here is where the boring technical details kick in. The treatment is experimental and has never been tested on anything besides mice in a lab. Research protocols surrounding human subject research are incredibly strict. You need a lot of approvals and clearances to do human subject research (we call this IRB protocols). Those approvals are not in place. Further since Ebola does not occur within the US, take the layers of approvals you need in the US and layer on the approvals you need in other countries. The scientific truth is that having those 2 Americans contract Ebola was probably the saving grace for that research lab because there was no easy way to get the the treatment from lab to the clinical trial stage What will most likely happen next us that the FDA will fast track the approval process to put the treatment out for clinical trial. But it will probably be in the US only at first until the US can get agreements in place that will allow for export to Africa. View All Comments Original Post W Lorraine Watkins 10:00pm Oct 1 Unintended consequences? More information on the Liberian under treatment in Texas seems to suggest he knew full well he had been exposed to Ebola and actually quickly sought out medical attention telling them of his concern about Ebola. I would love to know if he bought his airline ticket before or after he had contact with the woman who died from it along with her brother in Liberia? All the Medical ptb are out there reassuring the US that the medical care for Ebola is so much better than in Africa, specifically Liberia. "it is a different disease in the US than in Africa" they say. It would be hardly surprising that Liberians who worry about contact would head for the airport. So do we have a moral obligation to bring Ebola victims here for life saving treatment? View Post on Facebook · Edit Email Settings · Reply to this email to add a comment.