Biotech Values

[Biowatch]

A problem with a marginal benefit for a drug that patients and their families desperately want is self-delusion.

We all see what we want to see, and we really want to see some treatment for a debilitating disease that robs people of their minds and their ability to recognize their loved ones or remember recent events.

Unfortunately it is the perfect market for snake oil salesmen, particularly given that close family members would like to reverse the march of time.

I’m not saying that this is snake oil, just that there could be strong consumer pressure to approve it, especially if they start an ad campaign.
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If you remember, there was a strong consumer push to have bone marrow transplants to treat breast cancer patients, which was allowed to go forward, but in the end clinical data showed that it provided no survival benefit, despite patients undergoing a very harsh and unpleasant regime.

False Hope: Bone Marrow Transplantation for Breast Cancer
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMbkrev58584