Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Re: Forbes article on DNDN

There are a couple of bizarre quotes in the article. First, this one:

If it doesn't slow the progression of the disease, “what exactly is happening to keep the patients alive?” Dr. Oh asks.

This strikes me as a non sequitur—unless many deaths in the treatment arm were from something other than prostate cancer (which was clearly not the case), prolonging survival is tantamount to slowing disease progression. If the metric used for disease progression does not show a benefit under such circumstances, then the metric itself is flawed.

Here’s the second bizarre quote:

Brawley…wants to know exactly how deaths were counted. “Surprisingly some companies often lack the expertise to fully analyze these types of trials appropriately…”

Deaths are counted by counting death certificates (duh). If Brawley was questioning the statistical analysis in the SPA, he should have said so.