What A Medical Great Says
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Lee Nadler who could be called one of the fathers of immunotherapy research. Dr. Nadler, now senior vice president of Experimental Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was an oncology fellow at Dana-Farber when he began researching monoclonal antibodies. He enlisted the help of a former classmate, Phil Stashenko, D.D.S., who had learned how to make antibodies because he hoped to produce a mouthwash which would stop cavities. Nadler convinced Stashenko to show him how to produce antibodies, and together they made four, including the B1 antibody which became the foundation for the radioimmunotherapy drugs available today
Dr. Nadler and I chatted about those early days. Rather, I listened as he passionately recalled them. Of the way the system is currently run, he said, "Today, the health care system runs on what's profitable, not what's best for the patient. When people like Mark Kaminski (Bexxar's developer) and I started out, there were no incentives to use one drug over another. We got into medicine because we believed we could make a difference." They did, and they still are.
For now, patients who are faced with the challenges of cancer have one more difficult question to ask and answer: is my doctor recommending the treatment that is best for my health or his bottom line? While patients should feel that their physicians have their best interest at heart, the system of reiumbursement leaves room for doubt, and that's an unfortunate position for patients who already have enough to worry about.
Betsy