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University Could Lose Millions From “Unethical” Research Backed by Peter Thiel

posted by janrinok on Thursday November 16 2017, @06:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the its-the-way-that-you-do-it dept.

Fnord666 writes:

Questionable herpes vaccine research backed by tech heavyweight Peter Thiel may have jeopardized $15 million in federal research funding to Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. That's according to documents obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request by The State Journal Register.

In August, Kaiser Health News reported that Thiel and other conservative investors had contributed $7 million for the live-but-weakened herpes virus vaccine, developed by the late SIU researcher William Halford. The investments came after Halford and his private company, Rational Vaccines, had begun conducting small clinical trials in the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis. With the off-shore location, Rational Vaccines' trial skirted federal regulations and standard safety protocols for human trials, including having approval and oversight from an institutional review board (IRB).

Experts were quick to call the unapproved trial "patently unethical," and researchers rejected the data from publication, calling the handling of safety issues "reckless." The government of St. Kitts opened an investigation into the trial and reported that health authorities there had been kept in the dark.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/university-could-lose-millions-from-unethical-research-backed-by-peter-thiel/

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @07:05PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @07:05PM (#597819)

    see, this is why i don't mind runaway.

    he's principled even if he does lean quite rightward.

    conservatives do not have to be 100% profit and revenue maximizng at the expense of the actual customers they depend on.

    the very fact that the topic had '"unethical" in quotes led me to believe we'd be biased right from the start--which we were with the academic witchhunt comment--but runaway helped set the proper tone.

    ethics matter to everyone. you dont have to be red or blue to do unto others as you'd want done to you.

    Starting Score:    0  points
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Thursday November 16 2017, @08:06PM (2 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday November 16 2017, @08:06PM (#597864) Journal

    I totally agree. I even had to mod Runaway up. It hurt, but I did it anyway, because he's right. For once.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @09:24PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @09:24PM (#597911)

      got your mod points back, eh?