

Funding drug development for rare cancers can hurt patients - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/19/illusions/stop-developing-drugs-for-the-cancer-that-killed-my-mother-rd

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mcherm
Based on what is described in the article, perhaps the problem is not that
drugs are being developed for rare cancers (which does not harm patients in
any way that I can see), but that the level of testing expected by the FDA is
simply not reachable.

We saw a similar situation with the Ebola drugs that were being offered to a
few select westerners, despite still being in development. Withholding these
drugs from patients because their efficacy had not been proved seemed
unethical to many.

Perhaps what is needed is a more nuanced notion of efficacy testing -- one
which takes into account the survival rates under existing treatments, and
which focuses on clear communication to patients about the chance of non-
efficacy and/or harmful side effects from a not-fully-tested drug.

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ggchappell
> ... perhaps the problem is not that drugs are being developed for rare
> cancers (which does not harm patients in any way that I can see), ....

I don't think the article explains this very well. The idea seems to be that
if the money weren't spent on a goal that is unlikely to be met (getting a
drug approved for a rare cancer), then it could be spent on a goal that is
more likely (getting a drug approved for a more common cancer). What "hurts
patients" is that the latter is not happening. Dolgin is essentially claiming
that if the former happened less, then the latter could happen more.

This might be true to some extent, but it is a fallacy -- often seen in
discussions of governmental funding -- that if some money is not spent on item
A, then that same amount will be available for item B. On the contrary, the
emotional impact or political timeliness of item A might be what scared up the
money in the first place. Furthermore, even the money is still available, the
people who decide how to spend it might choose to spend it on options other
than item B.

In any case, the general principle of targeting funding at projects that are
actually likely to help people, seems to be a good one.

