The News Review:

- The Prison as Laboratory
- … Institutes Inc. Launches a New Caliber of Clinical…
- UK’s First Center f Excellence For Public Health Launched At…
- Malaghan Institute welcomes cancer breakthrough
- Deutsches Ãrzteblatt: Literaturverzeichnis Druckversion

The Prison as Laboratory
AlterNet – Jun 20, 2008
The HRP would not provide any details about the studies and clinical trials most of which involved treatments for HIV and AIDS according to reports in the Austin American-Statesman. David Paar director of the AIDS Care and Clinical Research Program at UTMB also declined to comment on the state of clinical research at the facility pending the results of an “ongoing inquiry. ” But documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request offer insight into the types of studies conducted on prisoners at UTMB. A September 14 2000 letter from the HRP to UTMB listed numerous research projects that did not fall into any of the categories of permissible research on prisoners finding “scant evidence” that the university’s institutional review board followed federal regulations when it reviewed and approved the studies. According to federal regulations research in prisons must fit into one of four permissible categories: studies of the possible causes and effects of incarceration and criminal behavior; studies of prisons as institutional structures or of prisoners as incarcerated persons; research on conditions affecting prisoners as a group; and research involving a therapy likely to benefit the inmate involved. In all cases studies are required to present no more than a “minimal” risk to the prisoner.

… Institutes Inc. Launches a New Caliber of Clinical…
Earthtimes – Jun 23, 2008
NERI currently has approximately 200 professionals on staff and a mix of 65 private and public sector clients in a variety of therapeutic areas. NERI has recently been awarded new business in medical areas ranging from neurodegenerative diseases in children and urolological studies to cardiovascular imaging trials. “As a scientifically-driven organization NERI embraces clinical research with a deep sense of integrity and passion” says NERI President Sonja McKinlay Ph. “ur unique combination of private and public sector experience gives our company an unmatched edge against industry competitors. Plus our innovative technology systems monitor and coordinate all aspects of a study in real time and communicate promptly with clients” says McKinlay. NERI conducts domestic and international clinical trials of drug observational studies and registries with significant capabilities in Phase II Phase III and Phase IV multi-site research.

UK’s First Center f Excellence For Public Health Launched At…
Medical News Today – Jun 21, 2008
Essential to the success of the bid was the support of an important group of key stakeholders including the ffice of the Chief Medical fficer the Community Development and Health Network the DHSSPSNI Research and Development ffice the Health Promotion Agency NI the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and the Discovery Centre W5 who will help disseminate the research to the public. Barbary Cook Chair of the Community Development and Health Network said: “We are delighted to be involved with the Centre of Excellence and look forward to seeing communities fully connected to the research and practice development of the Centre. A partnership of funders under the umbrella of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) provided the £20 million investment needed to establish the five Centres of Excellence. The funding group is lead by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Funding partners are the Health and Social Care Research and Development ffice for Northern Ireland the British Heart Foundation Cancer Research UK Economic and Social Research Council Medical Research Council National Institute for Health Research Wales ffice of Research and Development – Welsh Assembly Government and the Wellcome Trust. —————————-Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. —————————-Source: Andrea Clements.

Malaghan Institute welcomes cancer breakthrough
Scoop.co.nz – Scoop.co.nz (press release) – Jun 20, 2008
The Malaghan Institute NewZealand’s leading immunology research centre is hosted atVictoria University’s Kelburn campus. Its core workrevolves around harnessing the immune system to fightillness and disease. Clinical research fellow Dr RobertWeinkove says “What is special about this report is thedramatic nature of the response. The patient had a veryadvanced stage of melanoma which is incurable usingconventional methods such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The response to the immune therapy was both rapid and longlasting. The researchers were able to demonstrate that thecloned cancer-reactive cells persisted for at least threemonths in the patient’s blood stream. “Importantlyafter the treatment the patient also developed his own‘natural’ immune response against the cancer suggestingthat he may now be cured… The MIMR has a dedicated cancer vaccineresearch laboratory with the facilities to generatepersonalised cancer vaccines for patients. The MIMR iscurrently involved in a cancer immune therapy trial forglioblastoma a malignant brain tumour. Dr Robert Weinkoveis a Clinical Research Fellow in the Cancer ImmunotherapyResearch Group at the Malaghan Institute of MedicalResearch. He is also a Haematology Registrar at theWellington Blood and Cancer Centre. He trained at theUniversity of Cambridge and at Guy’s and St Thomas’Hospitals in London and is researching cancer immunetherapies and chronic lymphocyticleukaemia.

Deutsches Ãrzteblatt: Literaturverzeichnis Druckversion
Deutsches Ãrzteblatt – Jun 20, 2008
Freedman B: Equipoise and the ethics of clinical research. N Engl J Med 1987; 317(3): 1415. Kotaska A: Inappropriate use of randomised trials to evaluate complex phenomena: case study of vaginal breech delivery.