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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.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Thursday November 16 2017, @06:28PM (10 children)
I believe in using good ethics to practice safe experimentation. On the other hand, I don't see a problem with someone knowingly signing up for a treatment that may / may not be safe. The issue is the skirting around the Official process put in place to ensure the entire process is being done in what is generally deemed ethical and safe.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @06:34PM (1 child)
That issue you mention is exactly why it can't generally be allowed. Unsafe experimental treatments should be extreme outliers with lots of scrutiny, otherwise we'll see people doing their research in backwater villages where scientific education is zilch and it is easy to convince sick people that the treatment is their only chance of living. Any such unsafe treatments should have the explanations and agreement recorded so that it is clear the patient understands the risks.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday November 16 2017, @07:16PM
Treatments don't become widely used after a single human trial on some Caribbean island.
Well, maybe that is set to change.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday November 16 2017, @07:33PM (6 children)
We'll have the best clinical studies. I mean better than any other country. I promise. America will be number one. I mean about drugs. And drug tests. But I don't mean drug tests as applied to rich people testing for illegal substances, because that does not happen, but I mean we'll be number one in drug testing, done by our amazing wonderful Big Pharma, and I mean we have the bestest, biggest and priciest pharmacies in the world, and I have people calling me all the time to tell me that, because America is number one. We will create jobs. Many, many jobs. By employing the largest number of American workers in history in clinical studies. And friends, and I have lots of friends. Lots and lots of friends. Lots. And they ALL tell me that our Big Pharma drug studies will test something called efficacy, and will test the safety of these human subjects. And they'll like it, because they're getting paid for the safety. The people who are able to afford the drugs can be sure that they are safe knowing that many bothans died to bring us these drugs.
Police can legally stop you for having too much tent on your window.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Zinho on Thursday November 16 2017, @09:58PM (5 children)
@RealDonaldTrump, did you forget to log out of your sockpuppet account before posting?
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @10:19PM (3 children)
Expect further denials from DannyB.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday November 16 2017, @10:42PM (1 child)
Yep. I can only dream of having thought up the @realDonalTrump login first. But I didn't.
Police can legally stop you for having too much tent on your window.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 17 2017, @11:42AM
@realDonalTrump is still available.
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Thursday November 16 2017, @10:45PM
As if one person on the internet has a monopoly on impersonating an inarticulate President. Again, I don't even think DannyB's writing is that similar to realDonaldTrump's given that they're mocking the same character.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 17 2017, @01:38AM
You seem to be implying that @realdonaldtrump is the real account and DannyB is the sockpuppet.
Do you think @realdonaldtrump is actually the POTUS and he sometimes pretends to be DannyB?
(Score: 3, Informative) by SunTzuWarmaster on Sunday November 19 2017, @03:56PM
...And the primary thing that an Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Government Officials (GOs) do is to make sure that participants are informed of the risks and benefits of being in the trial - and that claims of the risk/benefit are true. Both of these governing bodies were neatly sidestepped by conducting the research overseas (IRB rules do not apply) and secretly (GOs left in the dark). Note that "traveling to a foreign country, getting people to sign a waiver indicating they won't sue and then injecting them with a live herpes sample" is, technically, legal (until a court says otherwise). Its hard to come up with something more unethical, however.
Note that following the IRB process would have added the ethical oversight (legally mandated for research in the States) and ~6 months to the project. Working with the Government could add more or less time depending on the structure/blessing/authority of the people involved.