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
IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH Without experimentation medical science cannot advance We would have little knowledge of how the human body works or how to prevent treat and cure diseases Our knowledge of what does and does not work has grown from research and hundreds of years of trial and error To come up with new medical treatments and cures researchers build upon what is already known their studies This alters their findings in a way that benefits them Just a small number of researchers do this but the impact can be dangerous if the public believe their findings A researcher’s job can be risky Some medical research involves working with dangerous diseases People wear safety gear FUDGING RESULTS A lot of research is made available in medical journals These publications provide scientists and doctors with the latest discoveries They include long articles about detailed scientific studies Other experts in the field review the research articles before they are published But sometimes researchers secretly change their results Occasionally they steal ideas from other researchers Some even make misleading conclusions by sharing only part of the results of to keep safe 6
Years of researching and testing are done before vaccinations are considered safe to use on humans DARK SCIENCE SECRETS In 1998 researcher Andrew Wakefield published a journal article that suggested a link between the measles mumps and rubella MMR vaccine and autism Autism is a developmental disorder in which people communicate and interact with others differently The article was published in The Lancet one of the world’s most respected medical journals Wakefield’s research involved 12 children and consisted of stories on the children’s medical histories His research was later proven false and he lost his medical license Other larger research studies failed to prove any link between the MMR vaccine and autism The Lancet removed the paper but the damage was done To this day many people mention Wakefield’s research when refusing to give their children the MMR vaccination Some reject all vaccines despite years of proven research on their safety and success Sadly this has lead to outbreaks of diseases such as measles and whooping cough in populations where they were previously rare 7
