In cancer drug battle, both sides appeal to ethics
(CNN) -- Andrea Sloan is dying of ovarian cancer. Having exhausted all standard treatment options, her doctors say her best hope now is a new class of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors.
The California pharmaceutical company BioMarin makes one version of these drugs called BMN 673. Earlier this year, the company presented very early data on this experimental drug at a large cancer conference. Initial results in women with breast and ovarian cancer were encouraging.
Sloan says there are doses of BMN 673 sitting on shelves in the same hospital where she's seeking treatment: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
But she's not getting the treatment because the company is refusing to give it to her. That's because this drug she wants is still in clinical trials, and the company says hasn't been proven effective.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/28/health/compassionate-drug-use/index.html
