Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1994923 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Amazon.com
Human Trials tells the life story of an unusually dedicated contemporary scientist who strove to revolutionize his field with his innovative ideas, and whose story is far from over.

Susan Quinn, biographer of Marie Curie and Karen Horney, focuses here on Dr. Howard Weiner and his belief in oral tolerance--"the long-held observation of systemic hyporesponsiveness to an antigen fed prior to immunization." He believes that compounds based on oral tolerance can be used to successfully treat autoimmune diseases, particularly multiple sclerosis. His attempts to prove this belief and bring such a compound to market are told as representative of what all scientists, investors, and patients involved in drug discovery must endure. This approach yields interesting observations regarding clinical trials in general. Most notable among them is that the trials are designed to treat large populations in the future rather than the individuals enrolled in them today.

Human Trials is a heartbreaking book. All the characters--the researchers in Dr. Weiner's laboratory, the executives in his fledgling biotech company, and especially the patients he treats--are sympathetic, and there are no happy endings for any of them. But Dr. Weiner still believes in his idea and is still toiling to prove it. Let's hope that one day we will read about how he fulfilled his life's ambition and cured MS. --Diana M. Gitig

From Publishers Weekly
This book is to experimental drug trials what Randy Shilts's And the Band Played On was to the AIDS epidemic. In resonant journalistic prose, Quinn (A Mind of Her Own: The Life of Karen Horney; Marie Curie: A Life) manages to capture the day-by-day human drama of high-stakes drug testing on patients with multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, everyday people who gamble with their lives to find a cure. Her case study of winner-take-all medicine is AutoImmune, a pharmaceutical company risking millions on one doctor's big idea, with a slim chance of exponential returns should a new drug be brought successfully to market. Quinn argues that failure is progress, in this field at least, where even crushing defeat can broaden understanding. This gives some idea of the extreme emotional highs and lows in this book. Quinn, whose work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and Atlantic Monthly, knows how to tell this story: from the lab and the conference room; over coffee in the kitchen of an MS patient's modest split-level; in the clinic waiting room on any given weekday. AutoImmune's big idea, called oral tolerance, is similar to the ancient idea that feeding a small bit of a poison can build tolerance to that poison. In this case, the idea is to build up immunity by administering small doses of myelin and collagen, the proteins attacked in MS and rheumatoid arthritis, respectively There are plenty of make-or-break moments in this book, made all the more poignant by Quinn's considerable talents as a biographer, which lend depth of character to the doctors and patients who grace these pages. (June 1)Forecast: To draw national attention to Quinn's new book, Bloomberg News will be running a major article, including an interview with the author. Perseus has also scheduled author appearances at three key independent bookstores in the Boston area over the course of the summer. Good reviews and off-the-book-page coverage could generate respectable sales.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
How are new drugs conceived and tested? Quinn (Marie Curie: A Life) attempts to answer that question as she follows the quest of Harvard neurologist Howard Weiner. Using observations from Weiner's personal journals along with interviews and videotapes of key events, Quinn portrays the personal hopes and frustrations that are part of the drug trial process. Weiner's team strives to produce safe, easy-to-ingest drugs for individuals with autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Quinn's absorbing book follows the formulation of the drugs from the basic biological theory to fund-raising efforts and, finally, the formulation and execution of the trials. The human aspects of the process are very evident as the reader is introduced to the researchers, investors, doctors, and, most importantly, patients involved in the trial. Lacking both an index and a bibliography, this volume is aimed at general readers. Recommended for public libraries. Tina Neville, Univ. of South Florida Lib., St. Petersburg
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.