Comments for Hopes and Cures http://hopesandcures.org Just another WordPress.com weblog Mon, 12 May 2008 12:52:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU Comment on Conversation with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation by Conversation with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation http://hopesandcures.org/2008/03/25/conversation-with-the-cystic-fibrosis-foundation/#comment-4 Conversation with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:36:51 +0000 http://hopesandcures.wordpress.com/?p=24#comment-4 [...] Continue Reading [...] [...] Continue Reading [...]

]]> Comment on Conversation with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation by Tim Ramsey http://hopesandcures.org/2008/03/25/conversation-with-the-cystic-fibrosis-foundation/#comment-3 Tim Ramsey Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:51:48 +0000 http://hopesandcures.wordpress.com/?p=24#comment-3 I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. Tim Ramsey I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog.

Tim Ramsey

]]> Comment on Welcome by michaelatbio http://hopesandcures.org/2008/03/03/welcome/#comment-2 michaelatbio Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:36:14 +0000 http://hopesandcures.wordpress.com/?p=17#comment-2 As an employee of BIO, I've worked on the SBIR problem for 4 years now and have enjoyed working with the advocates, scientists, and entrepreneurs - in government, industry and the nonprofits - who have devoted themselves to the development of treatments for devastating conditions. However, I am posting not as a member of industry, but as a lymphoma survivor who considers this issue to be of paramount importance to people with disease. In 2001 I was diagnosed with T-cell rich B-cell lymphoma. Part of my treatment included Rituxan - a biologic my oncologist calls the first great miracle drug in the cancer world. My chance of survival without Rituxan was 45%, but with it, 55%. When you are facing death, that is the side of the line you want to be on. I talk about this product because the company that developed it got SBIR grants for its cancer research program. Did the SBIR grant lead directly to Rituxan? I don't know since SBIR funding is generally for early stage research. It could be there was a direct link, or it could be the SBIR grant taught the company something that led them in a different direction which ultimately ended up with the product. Today, this company is no longer a small business, nor would it be eligible for SBIR grants. But for that program, who knows if I would be alive. People always say because I work in the industry, my comments are "suspect." I can tell you for certain though that I did not get lymphoma to be a shill for the industry. The bottom line is that people with untreatable and incurable diseases look to industry with hope that the next miracle drug will help them. Small biotech companies provide that hope and the SBIR grant program is one of the necessary pieces that allows a company to pursue these dreams and opportunities. As an employee of BIO, I’ve worked on the SBIR problem for 4 years now and have enjoyed working with the advocates, scientists, and entrepreneurs - in government, industry and the nonprofits - who have devoted themselves to the development of treatments for devastating conditions.

However, I am posting not as a member of industry, but as a lymphoma survivor who considers this issue to be of paramount importance to people with disease. In 2001 I was diagnosed with T-cell rich B-cell lymphoma. Part of my treatment included Rituxan - a biologic my oncologist calls the first great miracle drug in the cancer world. My chance of survival without Rituxan was 45%, but with it, 55%. When you are facing death, that is the side of the line you want to be on. I talk about this product because the company that developed it got SBIR grants for its cancer research program. Did the SBIR grant lead directly to Rituxan? I don’t know since SBIR funding is generally for early stage research. It could be there was a direct link, or it could be the SBIR grant taught the company something that led them in a different direction which ultimately ended up with the product. Today, this company is no longer a small business, nor would it be eligible for SBIR grants. But for that program, who knows if I would be alive.

People always say because I work in the industry, my comments are “suspect.” I can tell you for certain though that I did not get lymphoma to be a shill for the industry. The bottom line is that people with untreatable and incurable diseases look to industry with hope that the next miracle drug will help them. Small biotech companies provide that hope and the SBIR grant program is one of the necessary pieces that allows a company to pursue these dreams and opportunities.

]]>