Von Eschenbach Still at NCI?

The National Cancer Institute put out a press release yesterday announcing grants to cutting edge nanotechnologies for diagnosing and treating cancer. The release prominently quoted Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, the Bush family friend who indicated two weeks ago he was temporarily giving up his duties at NCI to take over the Food and Drug Administration. The discrepancy was first reported by The Hill, which covers Congress.

These grants -- worth $35 million to 12 university-based research teams -- graphically demonstrate why holding both jobs represents an inherent conflict of interest and can't be allowed to stand. A quick check on several of the awardees reveals many have patented their technologies and several are collaborating with private sector firms.

Take James Baker Jr., M.D., of the University of Michigan, who is working on a nanotech system to deliver drugs directly to cancer cells. So far, it's worked fairly well in mice. In a June report on the NCI website, Baker indicated he was preparing to license this technology to Avidimer Therapeutics, an Ann Arbor start-up in which Baker holds a significant financial interest.

Baker also indicated he hopes to be in clinical trials within a year. When that happens, he'll have to go to the FDA to approve his protocols. At that point, the guy who was in charge of the agency that gave Baker his grants will be in charge of the agency responsible for reviewing the animal data (often from tests in dogs) that claims this brand new technology is safe enough to try in humans.

Recall that the first words out of von Eschenbach's mouth after getting the FDA interim appointment were that he wanted to "streamline" the approval process at the agency. If I were a dying or very ill cancer patient, I would be very interested in participating in early trials of this promising new technology. But von Eschenbach's conflict of interest might give me pause. After all, no one -- not even the dying -- wants to be treated like a dog.