Hey, it's Flora, and you are listening to Science Friday.

We're kicking this conversation off with a story.

Science is personal, and when you have a chronic illness like I do, the drugs that you get make a huge difference.

This is Chris. He's from Florida, and he called us because he tried to get

into a clinical trial, and his experience raised some questions. Chris has autoimmune arthritis.

Over the years, he's taken 10 different drugs, and they all worked, but each one for less time than the

one before. And when the drugs work, you really do feel like those

commercials. You're dancing around and leaping off of the playground into the swimming pool. And

then when they stop working, you get really sad. So Chris tried to enroll in a clinical trial for a new

drug for his condition. Because new drugs are being developed all the time, and I thought, oh, this will be perfect for me.

But Chris was rejected from participating, and he was rejected because he was on his 10th drug,

which of course makes him exactly the kind of person who might benefit most from a new drug.

And I really wondered what you're supposed to do if you're one of the

problem children who doesn't meet the eligibility criteria because on one level, who needs

a clinical trial more than the guy who's quote unquote failing his 10th drug or having the

10th drug fail him, depending on how you want to phrase it.

So that is what we're looking into today, clinical trials and how they work.

Are there incentives for drug developers to leave out, quote, problem children?

Or is it more complicated than that?

Here with us is Dr. Holly Fernandez-Linch, a lawyer and a bioethicist who studies the ethics of clinical trials and the FDA's pharmaceutical policies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Holly, welcome to Science Friday.

Thanks so much for having me.

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