8 July 2009

Today is a sad day.

Not for me. I'm as happy as a pig in whatsit. But for people I got to know quite well whilst taking part in a drug trial last year. One of them in particular has been fighting for the promised continued use of the drug after the trial finished.

The problem stems from the drug company, safely ensconced in Switzerland, using a professional bunch of guinea pig trainers who recruited and dosed us up and monitored us. Said guinea pig trainers made us all aware of the risks, made us the promises of the drug etc etc. But the drug company has now decided to can the drug and has instead licenced a drug from a US company which puts it at the forefront blah blah blah...

End result? The guinea pigs who took the risks and made the sacrifices get diddly squat. Now this doesn't bother me especially as I had a relapse a couple of weeks after the trial as a consequence of which I now stab myself daily and have been relapse-free since then. But there are those for whom self-injection isn't something they like doing, or the drugs don't work for them or whatever. I've got a therapy which seems to work for me. But I feel for those who haven't, who are getting worse, who had pinned their hopes on this drug.

Life isn't always fair, but it doesn't make it any less unpleasant when you experience it first-hand. I was a keen advocate of participating in drug trials. Now I'm not so sure.