Undone Science and Blind Spots in Medical Treatment Research: A Case Study

Authors

  • Tom Cleary University of Wollongong, Australia

Keywords:

Seleccionado:age-related macular degeneration, eye diseases

Abstract

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a serious eye disease. Two similar drugs, Lucentis and Avastin, are available to slow the progression of wet AMD. Research has been carried out on the highly profitable drug Lucentis, so governments have licensed it for use, whereas equivalent research and formal licensing of Avastin for treatment of eye disease has been delayed and discouraged. This is a case illustrating the problem of undone science: research in socially beneficial areas may be neglected for commercial or political reasons. Key words: Age-related Macular Degeneration; undone science; Lucentis; Avastin; eye disease

Author Biography

Tom Cleary, University of Wollongong, Australia

BA Physical Anthropology MA Social Medicine PhD Sociocultural Anthropology Full time professor. Research area: Health and society, Graduate Program in Physical Anthropology, National School of Anthropology and History. Member of the Promoting Group of ALAMES in Mexico.

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Published

2012-01-01

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 4 (2012): Suppression and Mobbing: Socio-medicine Perspectives. Editors: Brian Martin, Florencia Peña

Section

Original Research

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.