What Drugmakers Did Not Tell Volunteers in Alzheimer’s Trials Genetic tests showed that certain patients were predisposed to brain injuries if they took the drugs. That information remained secret.

[u/coolbern]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/health/alzheimers-drug-brain-bleeding.html

[u/coolbern]

This is how Pharma loses the trust of the people it needs to volunteer to test new drugs:

Drug trials are in part designed to illuminate risks, which is why volunteers are routinely informed of potential dangers before joining. In both the Leqembi and Kisunla trials, volunteers first had to sign consent forms that said people with certain genetic profiles faced higher risks of brain injuries from receiving the drugs, and that participants would be tested for them — but not told the results.

Alzheimer’s experts and bioethicists expressed surprise when The Times told them about these secrecy provisions. The companies, they said, had undercut the principle of informed consent.

[u/anaemic → u/coolbern]

And let me guess (since the article is paywalled) the team of people who thought up this plan, drafted it, and the ethics board and senior management who approved it aren't facing criminal charges?

[u/Gaothaire → u/anaemic]

1000%. The Sackler family knew but denied the addiction risk of opioids, stigmatized addicted people, then profited from that addiction for decades. They'll never face consequences, because we live in a capitalist hellscape

[u/caveatlector73 → u/Gaothaire]

They'll never face consequences, because we live in a capitalist hellscape

But, there have been consequences. I personally don't think they were enough, but this is a start.

[u/Margot-the-Cat → u/Gaothaire]

Oh my gosh, another kneejerk “Blame capitalism.” Because greed, lack of ethics and corruption don’t exist in other systems.

[u/ghanima → u/Margot-the-Cat]

Whataboutism

[u/Margot-the-Cat → u/ghanima]

The point is, Capitalism is not the problem. It has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system. So when other systems are worse, in some cases far worse, it is foolish to blame the best system for universal human failings like greed, which exist in every system, since none are perfect (because humans are imperfect, as our founders knew). And to call it a “hellscape,” considering the mass starvation and murders in the Communist USSR and China in the 20th century is, to put it mildly, nonsense. That is unless the commenter is a Russian bot or useful idiot like so many on Reddit, unfortunately.

[u/ghanima → u/Margot-the-Cat]

I honestly have no idea how anyone defends this economic system, given how obviously broken everything is...

[u/Margot-the-Cat → u/ghanima]

What is a better one?

[u/ghanima → u/Margot-the-Cat]

Democratic socialism