take the drugs, and the other group wouldn’t; and you’d see who lived the longest. But that kind of study could not be done in this day and age.”
Campbell goes back to the lectern, empty-handed. “Why not?”
“Because ever since HIV came along, it is considered unethical to run a study full-term that might have a negative impact on one of the two groups. The most famous example was the AZT drug trials, which were stopped when it was decided the trials were so successful that it was unethical to withhold AZT from anyone any longer. Of course, now we know the opposite was true, and that the AZT drug trials were a total farse. But the most recent example happened in Africa, where they were running a study about the so-called benefits of circumcision in preventing the transmission of HIV, and they even stopped that trial short, saying that the evidence was so overwhelming that they weren’t going to wait for the final outcome to start cutting on every African man’s penis.”
Campbell hopes the ‘p’ word hadn’t offended any of the jury. “But, Dr. Roderick, isn’t there some evidence that – at least for some people – the viral load can go down, and the CD4 cell count can go up when they start taking these HAART drugs.”
“That
Campbell goes back to the lectern, empty-handed. “Why not?”
“Because ever since HIV came along, it is considered unethical to run a study full-term that might have a negative impact on one of the two groups. The most famous example was the AZT drug trials, which were stopped when it was decided the trials were so successful that it was unethical to withhold AZT from anyone any longer. Of course, now we know the opposite was true, and that the AZT drug trials were a total farse. But the most recent example happened in Africa, where they were running a study about the so-called benefits of circumcision in preventing the transmission of HIV, and they even stopped that trial short, saying that the evidence was so overwhelming that they weren’t going to wait for the final outcome to start cutting on every African man’s penis.”
Campbell hopes the ‘p’ word hadn’t offended any of the jury. “But, Dr. Roderick, isn’t there some evidence that – at least for some people – the viral load can go down, and the CD4 cell count can go up when they start taking these HAART drugs.”
“That