[Rolepaul]

This work is really interesting. Her3 testing is not done that frequently. It would be interesting to determine if this is why certain treatments worked with Nina and others did not.
By the way, there are as many details on the development of Herceptin as there are people telling them. Some of the work that I did in the 1980s helped make this drug available at clinical and commercial scale. People I know at Genentech at the bench scale did incredible things to get the drug available for the clinical trials. Growing the cells, producing the Monoclonal Antibodies so they were not rejected by patients (resulting in only three injections before the patient had shock symptoms), purifying them so they did not pick up endotoxin from processing, and freeze drying them so they could have a storage time of more than two weeks were all done by people who received no credit for their work. I know these people and they are proud of their work on this drug. I know women that were part of the testing through the military (including my mother) for this drug. I know the people doing these same tasks for the current drugs going into clinical trials and manufacturing. There is often the General McAurther's who are cited as the leaders, the thing is that the men and women who do the work to get the drug to market, who find out the reasons why the equipment needs to be changed, and who are working through the night to repair a critical piece of equipment so the patient can be treated are there as well. I tend to be one of those people and appreciate the masses rather than the figurehead.
I know more than I can write about concerning most drugs and many clinical trials. The pharma community of the US is second to none in terms of the development of drugs and the safe production of drugs. I am proud to be part of that community.
Paul