What is going on?

Yes, there have been many articles that have been written about doctors being conflicted when providing their professional opinion regarding a prescription drug. And, there have even been articles exposing the fact that some doctors receive payments for promoting their drugs. We can understand the need to be wary (unfortunately) regarding a doctor's professional advice/opinion in the medical field. But resorting to death threats?

That is what two prominent cancer prostate experts are dealing with after they had, at an FDA panel, publicly opposed (and voted against) the approval of Provenge, a controversial new drug which was found in two small clinical trials to extend the lives of those with prostate cancer. "An F.D.A. advisory panel endorsed the effectiveness of the drug by a 13-4 vote in March. The panel voted 17-0 that the drug was generally safe, although there were signs it could increase the risk of strokes." The FDA "said in May that it would not approve Provenge without more evidence that it was safe and effective." (New York Times)

We are not condoning or condemning either side. However, we are condemning the death threats these experts have received – possibly from patients advocating for the drug. As the New York Times suggested, that level of advocacy "could discourage rational discussion of drugs or deter experts from serving on government advisory committees."

The ironic part of this is, unlike most of the other panel members, both experts "actually treat patients with prostate cancer [and] they argued that the evidence fell short of proving that the drug worked, and that they did not want to give patients false hope."

Isn't this what we want?