Bank Robbers, Boats, and the Basics
“I rob banks because that’s where the money is.”
Sometimes quotes like these take on a life of their own. Attributed to the bank robber Willie Sutton, Sutton during his life claims he never said it. According to the Snopes.com website:
Sutton denied ever having said it. "The credit belongs to some enterprising reporter who apparently felt a need to fill out his copy," wrote Sutton in his autobiography. "I can't even remember where I first read it. It just seemed to appear one day, and then it was everywhere."
This “quote” led to the creation of Sutton’s Law that states when diagnosing ailments, one should first consider the obvious. The Wikipedia entry for Sutton’s Law adds: “it is also applied in pharmacology, when choosing a drug to treat a specific disease you want the drug to reach the disease. It is applicable to any process of diagnosis, e.g., debugging computer programs. Computer-aided diagnosis provides a statistical and quantitative approach.”
In his 1976 book Where the Money Was (a poke at the quote attributed to him) Sutton added this regarding the famous quote, “If anybody had asked me, I'd have probably said it. That's what almost anybody would say... it couldn't be more obvious."
The process of moving promising treatments through clinical trials is getting harder and harder. The industry as a whole and clinical trial service providers face an uphill battle. Perhaps the most difficult part of managing a clinical trial is the first step – finding people to participate. Numerous studies have shown that low enrollment and subsequent patient dropout is one of the biggest reasons clinical trials fail or are halted.
A few weeks ago, I was travelling to the INTERPHEX show in NYC. As I’m in northern NJ the best way to get to the show is to take the ferry across the Hudson. It’s a 10-minute trip across the river and the terminal is located behind the Javits center. The choice to take the ferry is obvious.
As I took my seat on the ferry, I noticed one of the other docked ferries had big banners on it – seeking volunteers for a clinical trial.
What was the clinical trial for?
Seasickness
An ad for a clinical trial to evaluate a new seasickness drug on a ferry.
Brilliant, I thought.
Go to where the people (patients) are found.
Could it be any more obvious?
I think it would make Willie Sutton proud.
Mike Auerbach
Editor In Chief
[email protected]
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