Human Trials: Scientists, Investors, and Patients in the Quest for a Cure [Hardcover]

Susan Quinn (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0738201820 | ISBN-13: 978-0738201825 | Publication Date: May 15, 2001 | Edition: First Edition

Over fifty million people suffer from some form of autoimmune disease-multiple sclerosis, arthritis, lupus, and other afflictions in which the body attacks itself-none of them with a lasting cure. Susan Quinn has investigated the worlds where new autoimmune drugs are being developed: the research labs, the drug-company boardrooms, and the clinics where patients become "subjects" in the search for new medicines and treatments. Her exciting story is one of real people: fiercely competing scientists, ambitious venture capitalists, and, above all, anxious, sick human beings. She takes the reader inside these otherwise closed worlds, into the lead investigator's diaries, the tense closed-door meetings with investors, and the hopeful or heart-rending encounters in doctor's offices. Hers is the archetypal story of all medical research: the roller-coaster trip from the lab bench to the medicine cabinet, in which only a very few new drugs and treatments survive. Susan Quinn, author of the acclaimed biography Marie Curie, catches the hopes, triumphs, and crushing failures, the greed and the idealism in these dramatic human trials.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; First Edition edition (May 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738201820
• ISBN-13: 978-0738201825
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,204,268 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Facinating look into clinical trials, May 30, 2001

By 

A. Black (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Human Trials: Scientists, Investors, and Patients in the Quest for a Cure (Hardcover)

This book grabbed me from the start since I also have one of those incurable, untreatable autoimmune diseases that rarely threaten your life, but certainly ruin it. Scleroderma patients had a recent, similar roller-coaster ride with what was thought to be a promising therapy. I could easily relate to everyone involved - patients, treating doctors, researchers, and investors. Ms Quinn took very complex material about MS and the research surrounding it and made it understandable, while telling an exciting and emotionally engaging story. Though it doesn't help me to cope day-to-day with my disease, it does make me understand the processes and people involved in the search for a treatment.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thrilling Journey into the War Against Disease, August 10, 2001

By 

Peaco Todd (Somerville, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Human Trials: Scientists, Investors, and Patients in the Quest for a Cure (Hardcover)

I knew Susan Quinn's HUMAN TRIALS would be an engaging, informative inquiry into the intricate process of bringing a new drug therapy to market. What I didn't expect was that the book would read like the best of thrillers -- it takes the reader on the suspenseful and sometimes heart-wrenching journey into the very heart of the war against disease. HUMAN TRIALS is ultimately about the people who populate the closed society that chronic, degenerative illness creates (in this case, MS and rheumatoid arthritis): the patients and their families who suffer and hope, and the doctors, scientists, and investors who, from motives that mix intellectual egotism, financial gain, and selfless dedication, bring their best weapons of mind and spirit to the battle. Quinn does an admirable job describing and demystifying the strategy involved in one novel approach to conquering, or at least containing, MS and RA; the reader learns in compelling detail just what it takes to develop an untested theory into a viable, marketable protocol. However, HUMAN TRIALS goes beyond scientific process to tell a story of risk and courage on both sides of the line. On this particular journey, failure is simply a subset of perseverance, knowledge arrives in unexpected ways, and victory is really a matter of the heart more than the body.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blends science with medical insights, August 11, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Human Trials: Scientists, Investors, and Patients in the Quest for a Cure (Hardcover)

Susan Quinn's Human Trails blends science with medical insights as it draws unusual and important connections between scientists, investors in scientific and medical research, and how drug trials are financed and conducted. Hers is written from lead investigator diaries and closed-door meetings with investors, offering more than an outside look at the facts.