J&J to Collaborate With Ethicists on a Compassionate Early Access Plan

Johnson & Johnson will ask an independent panel to recommend who gets a breakthrough drug that’s still under development, a plan that could help the company contend with the phenomenon of desperate patients using social media to campaign for early access to medications.

The collaboration between the world’s largest maker of health-care products and the division of medical ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center will start with one medicine. If successful, the company will expand the initiative, said Chief Medical Officer Joanne Waldstreicher.

The approach involves creating a panel of medical experts, patient advocates and ethicists to establish a clear and fair method to distribute the drugs, said Art Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at NYU. Medications that are under development are often in short supply and used primarily in clinical trials, making it difficult for patients who don’t qualify for the studies to get treatment.

Link to the complete article on Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/1H3qhFq