Researcher turns to patients for financial support

The Wall Street Journal carries an in-depth feature on the work of James P. Bennett Jr., director of the Center for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Virginia, who's been turning to trial patients to help pay for his investigation into a new therapy for ALS. With many drug developers uninterested in developing treatments for diseases that afflict only a tiny population, researchers like Bennett have been asking patients to send a check in order to keep the studies going. Bennett has already divested himself of any ownership in the therapy, but the fundraising approach is spurring a discussion in research circles over the relationship between researcher and patient.

- read the article from the Wall Street Journal