Trial Lawyer Fred Baron to Get Experimental Cancer Drug
Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron has obtained an experimental cancer drug in an effort to fight late-stage multiple myeloma.
Baron’s son, Andrew, told the Associated Press that his 61-year-old father obtained the drug Tysabri through the Mayo Clinic. The famous trial lawyer has been told he has only days to live.
The drug maker Biogen had refused to allow Baron to be treated with the drug, approved for multiple sclerosis or Crohn’s disease. It was withdrawn from the market after two people taking the drug died from a rare brain infection but was reintroduced under a strict safety plan, the Wall Street Journal Health Blog reports. The company is testing the drug on multiple myeloma patients, but Baron didn’t meet the criteria for participation.
Biogen denied permission to Baron because it was concerned that a bad outcome could restrict the drug’s use on other patients, ABAJournal.com noted in a prior post.
Andrew Baron says on his blog that the Mayo Clinic, working with the Food and Drug Administration, has found a legal basis for treating his father with the drug.
Baron, a Democratic fundraiser, has been in the news for paying to relocate John Edwards’ mistress.
Hat tip to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
