Drug company slams biz reporter, but doesn't give specifics

TheStreet.com’s Marek Fuchs writes that one of the financial news web site’s writers, Adam Feuerstein, has been the subject of an inflammatory press release from a company that wished to rebut one of his articles.

The only problem, Fuchs notes, is that the release doesn’t specify what was wrong with the story.

Fuchs wrote, “Feuerstein delved into what has always been a concern of mine: the legitimacy placed in some quarters on studies whose results are drawn after the fact.

“In other words, if a drug is tested for curing one thing and found in retrospect to possibly help in another, the resulting conclusions — and public posture of the company involved — have to be measured. The surprising results could be a good sign, but they merit further, completely dedicated testing of the apparently randomly discovered new function.

“With a high degree of specificity, Feuerstein lanced the highly promoted test of Advexin, Introgen’s all-important drug prospect.

“How did the company respond? With a specific rebuttal? By telling the world why retrospective studies are direct signs of FDA approval and commercial success — not just a reason to try another study? By explaining to the world why 16 patients in a pool of 217 were a meaningful sample? By claiming that, despite what Feuerstein reported, it has not been having difficultly getting cancer-research centers to enroll patients in Advexin studies?”

Read more here. Fuchs asked for a comment about what was wrong with the story from the company, but to date has not heard back.