Word: drugged
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Nichols' story is remarkable. He not only fought for the drug's development in the face of total disinterest by drugmakers and mainstream cancer scientists but may also have opened the door to a whole new family of cancer drugs. Says Dr. Francis Giardiello, chief of gastroenterology at Johns Hopkins: "He spurred them to look into this a lot deeper and a lot faster than they would have otherwise. He has a proud legacy." He may also posthumously save the life...
...began reading the medical literature and calling scientists. Eventually he talked to Dr. Randall Burt, now the chief of gastroenterology at the University of Utah. Coincidentally, Burt had just heard University of Colorado surgeon William Waddell tell a scientific meeting that he had seen an aspirin-like arthritis drug called sulindac (Merck) almost miraculously melt away colon polyps. The finding was anecdotal, observed in only a few patients, but it was just what Nichols wanted to hear...
...promptly informed his doctors at the University of Chicago that he would try the drug. Almost unanimously they advised against it; one called the idea suicidal. Besides, it could produce severe side effects. But Nichols took the drug anyway--and it eliminated his polyps...
Nichols began calling pharmaceutical houses in the U.S. and Europe, telling them that if they started making sulindac it would save thousands of lives. But it was about to come off patent, and as a generic drug it didn't offer much of a payoff because of the likelihood of competitive products and lower prices. Moreover, FAP--Nichols' cancer--is a so-called orphan disease, afflicting only 25,000 Americans, so there wasn't much of a market for it. Thanks, but no thanks, the drugmakers said...
Although bringing a new drug to market can be time-consuming (up to 15 years) and costly ($500 million), Nichols was undaunted. In 1989 he started his own pharmaceutical company, Cell Pathways, with Dr. Rifat Pamukcu--the lone physician at the University of Chicago who had supported his decision to forgo surgery--as chief scientific officer. At first, Nichols used his own money, then he turned to friends, and finally he sold off shares to venture capitalists, eventually raising $81.5 million but leaving him with only an insignificant interest in Cell Pathways. Getting rich was never his goal...