Posted by Al Gordon on December 10, 1997 at 17:14:09:
In Reply to: Re: JDF/NASA Workshop posted by Therese B. on December 10, 1997 at 01:06:40:
Funny you should ask about INGAP. A part of the conference was dedicated to islet cell regeneration, but neither Aaron Vinik nor anybody from EVMS or McGill was present, and INGAP was never mentioned.
I was surprised by its omission, and so I took the microphone and asked "Could the panel please comment on INGAP, developed by Aaron Vinik et al? It seems that Lilly considered INGAP to be enough of a threat to diabetes that they acquired the exclusive rights to it." What a fuss that caused! I was told that such a discussion was not appropriate in that forum, and one researcher winked at me and said, "Maybe this is something we can gossip about on the side." There were various other comments that were either derogatory toward INGAP or toward my "inappropriate" timing of the question. I guess I have a lot to learn about research conference etiquette.
So to answer your question, I have no idea if the reaction to INGAP was based on a genuine belief that there is nothing of value there, or on a feeling that Lilly has appropriated something of potential value to people with diabetes, or on the way I posed the question, or on some other factor.