Re: Placebo effects, EB, etc.
Don , Jeffrey
I w=uld like to put you in direct email contact.
also cc Lesley.
m
Great, thanks =artin. Sometime when I get to NYC, which I often do to visit Columbi=
connections, I'd like to be in touch, and give Jeffery more lectu=es in statistics — I think he has some potential!
Also, Martin, should we try to touch base on Monday? =he rest of the week is pretty much shot
for me with visitors.
Best, Don
great
I'm always int=rested in unique idea
Hello Jeffrey,
I'm glad that Martin has put u= in touch for a couple of reasons. First, I think we have some mutua= interests concerning the complications of doing experiments with humans, =ather than plants or animals or tires. One complication is noncompli=nce with the assigned treatment, which we briefly discussed at the dinner,=but the more interesting one is the placebo effect, which can be gigantic,=for example in "viagra" type studies, which we didn*=99t get around to discussing except indirectly in the context of the Emoti=nal Brain (EB) female viagra issue.
More generally, this is relate= to FDA standards for approving drugs. A slight aside: in January I=E24040m one of three people getting honorary degrees from the Medical Fa=ulty of the University of Uppsala in Sweden, where one of the others is Ro=ert Califf, the current Commissioner of the FDA (the other is Marcia McNut=, the current President of the National Academy of Sciences), so I should =et the chance to bend his ear at various meals (a former commissioner Q=80Q under Bush II — was a partial PhD student of mine when he wa= getting his MD at Harvard and his PhD in Econ at MIT, and remains a good =riend: Mark McClellen, who is interested in this stuff and remains quite i=fluential in DC, I think).
But the reason for rambling about the =DA and placebo effects is the following. This morning I just had an =xchange of emails with the CEO of EB, whom I've known and worked w=th for about three years, Adriaan Tuiten. He wrote that FDA has agre=d with EB's proposal for more trials, and the EB board of director= just approved the issuance of about 12 million Euros in stock to pay for =hese trials. Adriaan thinks that they may have enough connections no=, but would you be interested in participating? I already have some =tock, which I earned though consulting. I think EB is interesting b=t still needs more wisdom when it comes to their statistics (I've =een to FDA with them two or three times, and I think they still need help =ith some of their ideas e.g., using SNPs). If interested in tossing =ome money their way, let me know.
In any case, I very much enjoyed our I=st conversations, and I look forward to seeing you again, either in Cambri=ge or in NYC, which I'll probably get to in the next couple of wee=s.
Best wishes, Don
Differe=t ways to follow up.
The next time that =e're in the same town, we could talk about the statistical ideas u=derlying ways to disentangle placebo effects from biological effects of dr=gs and why that's important for FDA approvals and for prescripts i= the docs office — different answers, I think.
I can send some recent things on the topic of placebo respon=e, which are still not that wonderfully written.
=. If interested in exploring investing in EB, I can put you in touch=with Adriaan, who lives in Amsterdam.
Are any of =hese appealing? I prefer 1 to 2. I think a face to face versio= of 3 could be arranged either here or there.
Let=me know.
three way skype for 3. and yes 1 face to face