Sam Hutchison has cancer. His father is seeking a cure beyond the edge of medicine

From the Wall Street Journal, a feature on Neil Hutchison, San Diego defense-contractor recruiter who is dosing his son’s cancer with a cocktail of drugs that he concocted himself.

… he’s part of a growing underground pushing the edge of medicine to find combinations of anticancer agents to save themselves or loved ones. Many of the medicines Sam takes haven’t been tested in clinical trials for his disease. Some are meant for other illnesses; others are still in animal testing for safety and efficacy. But the fact is that Sam, who suffers a rare and often-deadly cancer of the nerves, is otherwise almost certain to die. Hence Mr. Hutchison’s decision, as he puts it, to play “lab rat” with his son.

… The practice is particularly worrisome to those running clinical trials. While only a small minority of cancer patients are cobbling together their own cocktails, they’re often the same people — the desperate and the risk-takers — who would otherwise volunteer for new drug trials.

Just one of those coincidences: David Kessler, who’s quoted in this story as dean of the school of medicine at UCSF, was fired yesterday. Story here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2007 at 4:54 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, cancer, chronic illness, drugs, medicine, parents, research news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post