Sounds complicated to me... and if it was so easy why couldn't they have the treatment done at another care facility?
“It was nothing short of miraculous,” Good said of the first infusion. “It was surreal because we didn’t understand what had just taken place completely. . . . No one expected that immediate of a response.”
However, it was not like turning on a light switch that stays on, he said. Dosing was an issue, and in subsequent weeks the benefit went down.
There were interesting twists. Sometimes the smaller the dosage the more effective the treatment.
Good said there was “a real opportunity for research” because Frank Carney’s overall health was strong with no compromised organs.
“What I had was a Lazarus,” Janie Carney said. “I had Lazarus for a year. We could do things again.”
Then it abruptly ended, not because the trial was done but because the care facility where Carney was living would no longer keep him as a patient. Janie Carney said that’s another story entirely.
Regardless, the trial was over. Alkon said it couldn’t continue because there are rigorous specifications in trials that require complex planning.
“It’s not so simple,” he said. “We were very frustrated. We would have liked to have continued.”
He said he believes Carney could have kept improving.
“We saw some remarkable improvement. . . . We learned an amazing amount. Did we want to learn more? Of course.”
Alkon said there’s “no question at all” that Frank Carney at least met his goal with the trial.
“Absolutely he has helped other people. Both he and Janie.”