Wrongful Death: The AIDS Trial
Page 33
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At the far end of the newsroom, Sam can see Sarah walking toward her office with an older woman in tow. She shows the woman to a chair and is obviously asking her to wait, and then she makes her way to Sam’s office, knocks on the open door and lets herself in before being invited, more excited and animated than Sam had seen her in a long time.
“I've got it, Sam. I've got the scoop you wanted, and I'll have it ready for tonight's paper.”
“Why aren't you in court?”
“Gene's covering for me. I accidentally found this woman...”
“What does she do?”
“It's not what she does, Sam. It's what she did. I've got to get this interview done...this story is hot, Sam.”
Sarah tries to leave quickly but Sam stops her, understandably cautious.
“Whoa, Sarah...stop...come back.”
Sarah turns around.
“Sit. Sit for a just a minute.”
Sarah sits, but not very willingly.
“Tell me first, before you go racing off. What's this big story?”
“Sam, those Phase 2 double-blind AZT studies were not that at all...there was no way they could be called ‘double blind.’ Everybody in both groups knew what everyone else was taking – doctors and patients – and because of the rumors, no one wanted to be in the placebo group…they all wanted to be taking AZT.”
“But that's supposedly impossible to find out when you're in a study like this – who's taking what – isn’t it?”
“That’s where this woman comes in, Sam. Almost all the patients in these Phase 2 trials were secretly sending their pills to outside labs to be analyzed, to find out what they were taking, so they could make sure they were on AZT. That woman is one of the ones who did the testing.”
“How did you find this out?”
“Dr. Broad had just finished testifying about this, and I was headed to the ladies' room during a recess, when this woman walked up me and said, ‘You know, he's absolutely right. I'm one of them.’"
“Okay. So?”
“Sam, she said that if the patients found out they were on a placebo, they would get AZT on the side, because everyone was saying how it could cure them of AIDS and no one was monitoring the use of other drugs during the trials. After a while, there was hardly anybody left in the placebo group that wasn't taking AZT also. There wasn't any control group, really. The whole thing had fallen apart. And on top of that, many in the original AZT groups had to be taken off the drug because it was causing such awful side effects. It's almost as if the two groups switch sides over time.”
“All right. Okay, it's a good story. Go get it!”
Sarah jumps up and rushes toward the door.
“Oh, and Sarah...”
She stops in her tracks again and turns back to Sam.
“Congratulations on the scoop.”
Sarah smiles, lets Sam’s compliment sink in for a moment, and then literally runs through the newsroom back to her office.