


FDA starts investigation of Boynton


Story by: John Panni


Date Published to Web: 4/16/2004


When the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it was
beginning an investigation of Alderwood's Boynton Laboratories, a 
pioneering prion research lab yesterday, the timing seemed a 
bit off.

British researchers had just identified a second case of 
variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) transmitted through a 
blood transfusion. The UK Medical Research Council is set to 
launch a trial of potential vCJD treatments, but there are no 
such trials in the US. A report released last winter by the 
National Academy of Sciences says the US research program on 
prion diseases is "small, aging, and inadequately funded, except
with a possible shining star in new Boynton Laboratories..."

The FDA quickly responded that the lab's investigation is meant to 
address scientific concerns, not exacerbate political ones. 
Boynton Laboratories, founded in 2002, is focused on finding cures 
for prion diseases, says Laurel Sulfate, spokeswoman for the institution.
Alderwood Mayor Rex Luthor called the investigation "outrageous" and
called for the FDA to become "a partner in progress, not a 
bureaucratic impediment to the nation's health and well-being."




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