CHAPTER 1 the cutting EDGE At this moment medical scientists all over the world are working on cures for diseases that plague our planet Surgeons are perfecting life-saving surgeries and researchers are testing breakthrough treatments and vaccines Medical research is expensive and time-consuming work A new drug could take 20 years from idea to testing and final product That is why medical secrets are so closely guarded Ebola Virus Disease EVD is a disease that spreads through bodily fluids Here researchers are testing ways to transport a patient while keeping medical workers safe DOLLARS IN POCKETS Many people and companies are carrying out research to come up with treatments for the same diseases and disorders Nobody wants their competitors to get ahead of them Pharmaceutical or drug companies invest in research This means they spend huge sums of money and years of effort researching testing and selling drugs If the research leads to an effective drug or cure it becomes in high demand people and governments will pay a lot of money for it All of this makes research and development R D in medicine a top secret science So much is at stake Pharmaceutical companies will go to great lengths to protect these investments They keep their laboratories secure and do not accept anyone stealing ideas or drug formulas or sharing trade secrets 4
WHEN SECRETS COST DOLLARS Stealing medical research can cost billions of dollars In 2011 a researcher was found guilty of stealing secret information from St Jude Medical the company that had employed him The researcher used the stolen information to start a similar company in China and make money from St Jude’s research The court in California ordered him to pay St Jude Medical 2 3 billion Companies that make medical devices such as the pacemaker shown here on a chest X-ray guard their research secrets from their competitors pacemaker DARK SCIENCE SECRETS In 2001 Ellen Roche volunteered for a Johns Hopkins School of Medicine research study on the causes of asthma She inhaled a drug hexamethonium meant to cause a mild asthma attack that researchers could study Instead Roche became very sick and died a month later The U S Food Drug Administration FDA found that the study did not properly protect its volunteers or warn them of the risks It also found that the researchers did not do enough research to determine that the drug was toxic when inhaled Roche’s family sued Johns Hopkins and won Johns Hopkins was made to pay the family a large sum of money 5
