[ExI] thiel goes south

[Giulio Prisco]

My insight: if I am sick and the only treatment that offers some hope
is risky and only available in remote places, I'll go here and FUCK
regulations.

On Fri, Sep 1, 2017 at 4:38 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>
>
> Big news story today about one of Peter Thiel’s ventures.
>
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> http://www.thedailybeast.com/authorities-launch-investigation-of-unethical-offshore-herpes-trial-backed-by-peter-thiel
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> He wanted to test a vaccine for herpes, but in the USA, any such drug test
> costs billions to control and jump through all the government hoops.  This
> means that any treatment which cannot make back that initial investment can
> never be approved by the FDA.  So the protections put in place by the US
> government prevent new therapies and drugs.
>
>
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> Since many countries do not have anything analogous to the US FDA, they can
> just use the drugs developed and approved by the US.  The staggering expense
> of FDA approval prevents new medications all over the world.
>
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> Thiel was being himself: he went to Mexico and Australia where they don’t
> worry too much about these kinds of things and tested the vaccines without
> all the costly control and oversight required by the FDA.
>
>
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> The big deal is that they used test subjects in the Caribbean in St. Kitts,
> including (drum roll) American citizens.  (“GASP!” they gasped.)  Thiel’s
> detractors are saying this is unethical (What is the unethical part?  (Going
> around the American FDA or experimenting on actual (gasp!) Americans?
> (Would it be an ethical experiment had it disallowed US citizens?)))
>
>
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> Thiel’s argument: the volunteers who took the vaccines already had herpes
> and did not have access to treatment.  So the worst that could happen is
> nothing.
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> What happens if Thiel discovers this vaccine works, but declines to do FDA
> testing?  Then do we have a drug which can be used overseas but is illegal
> in the USA?  Would it then be kinda like cocaine except that it actually
> prevents disease instead of getting the user stoned?  Imagine if other
> investors recognize that there are markets for drugs outside the USA and
> that the approval process here has gone from difficult to absurd.  Then they
> follow suit and create new classes of drugs and therapies using populations
> willing to take chance.
>
>
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> Ethics hipsters among us, do offer your insights please.
>
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>
> spike
>
>
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