A thank you to my readers

Last week, I wrote a blog post about the Provenge prostate cancer vaccine that was published on this blog site yesterday, April 21st. I’ve gotten more feedback on this post than any others in recent memory and feel honored that people are reading my blog from time to time. I am lucky to have so many readers, so thanks to all of you for reading!

The recent comments to my post clearly indicate that there are many who feel passionate about Provenge, and in respect for their passion and interest I wanted to provide some additional detail and clarification.

First, one reader commented that he or she was disappointed that I appeared to make light of the real-life tragedy of prostate cancer when I made reference to the fictional drug “Provasic” from the movie The Fugitive. I apologize if this was the perceived effect of my post. Though prostate cancer is not my primary field of expertise, I do help to take care of prostate cancer patients and I know what a real-life tragedy this disease can be. I am very interested in new research and developments in the treatment of prostate cancer, and I do hope that the upcoming data confirms that Provenge may be an effective treatment for some groups of patients.

Second, related to that point (and in response to another post), I do not have any financial investment in Provenge or any possible competitor. In fact, I don’t have any financial investment in any pharmaceutical or device company. Again, I really do hope that the Provenge data holds up and that the company succeeds.

Finally, I’ve learned from my readers a few additional details about this case that I thought were worth mentioning. I obtained my original information from an ASCO bulletin and a few stories from major media news outlets that were available on the web. My readers have pointed out that the death threats to the “prominent oncologists” have been unsubstantiated upon further review, and I certainly have no way to know whether or not the threats were real. Also, another reader pointed out that one of the oncologists who advised the FDA apparently had his own potential financial conflicts of interest, which is also something that I did not know from my initial review of last week’s news stories. Thank you to those who have pointed this out.

As in many other cases, the details in this case are not as clear as they might have initially seemed. The bottom line — regardless of Provenge — is that I hope that my patients with prostate cancer, and all patients with prostate cancer, will soon have more effective treatments available for their disease.