Personal Lives
Trial Lawyer Fred Baron to Get Experimental Cancer Drug
Posted Oct 17, 2008, 08:27 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron has obtained an experimental cancer drug in an effort to fight late-stage multiple myeloma.
Baron’s son, Andrew, told the Associated Press that his 61-year-old father obtained the drug Tysabri through the Mayo Clinic. The famous trial lawyer has been told he has only days to live.
The drug maker Biogen had refused to allow Baron to be treated with the drug, approved for multiple sclerosis or Crohn's disease. It was withdrawn from the market after two people taking the drug died from a rare brain infection but was reintroduced under a strict safety plan, the Wall Street Journal Health Blog reports. The company is testing the drug on multiple myeloma patients, but Baron didn’t meet the criteria for participation.
Biogen denied permission to Baron because it was concerned that a bad outcome could restrict the drug's use on other patients, ABAJournal.com noted in a prior post.
Andrew Baron says on his blog that the Mayo Clinic, working with the Food and Drug Administration, has found a legal basis for treating his father with the drug.
Baron, a Democratic fundraiser, has been in the news for paying to relocate John Edwards' mistress.
Hat tip to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
Related Stories
- Lawyer Won $2.4M for Client, But Should Get No Attorney Fee, 2nd Circuit Says
Jan 7, 2009, 03:03 pm CST - Medical Ethics: Must Doctors Tell Patients About Best Hospitals?
Jan 7, 2009, 12:13 pm CST - Ex-PD Who Defended Accused Abusers Was Murdered by Husband
Jan 6, 2009, 09:35 am CST - Lawyer Wins Best Fib Contest
Jan 6, 2009, 07:15 am CST
Related Topics
Commenting has expired on this post.
Comments
Posted by Andy - 2 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 13 hours, 58 minutes ago
Wonderful!
If you’re a special person with political connections you’re allowed to get life saving drugs, otherwise you get to die.
That’s the law.
Why do we continue to pretend America is a free country? This is the kind of thing we complain about happening in communist dictatorships.
Posted by nerdseeksblonde - 2 months, 3 weeks, 1 day, 12 hours, 14 minutes ago
As a long time follower of Tysabri and earlier proponent of oncology trials and as a preson who tries to concentrate on products not laws, I want “you people” to recognize the difference in mind set between lawyers and scientists. Remember, if this drug helps him it will not be because of anyone’s mistress or his connections, but the dedicated work of people spending time beating their heads against difficult problems, not trying to use influence to gain favors.
Sorry again as I have unfortunately found more opportunities to post on politics than science but ultimately it is the science that makes things possible, not the personal relationships that gain exemptions from legal impediments for some.