Posted by Robin Harrison on May 02, 1998 at 23:57:53:
There were some heated exchanges here last week regarding the Santa Barbara Diabetes Project. As a result, I contacted both Dr. Lois Jovanovich, and Jocelyn Ondre.
Dr. Lois assured me that SBDP/Sansum is absolutely not involved with Loran. The following is a direct quote:
"The Sansum Medical Research Foundation has never had a relationship with Loran. In fact when they tried to use our name in conjunction with their company, we sued for deformation and won a "cease and desist" status. We did collaborate with the Russians, not Loran, to implant 24 transplant units procured and processed by the Russians, into 24 of our patients in California. Four had a remarkable drop in insulin requirement, but they had only a modest rise in insulin production from their transplantation which lasted less than a year. None came off insulin treatment. We collaborated with the Russians because they claimed they had a cure. We proved they did not. When the Russians then joined Loran, they misquoted our research on the Russia-procured tissue."
Having known an individual who underwent this ghoulish and unapproved procedure thru Loran, I was quite concerned over any link that Sansum might have with this entity, which was recently the subject of a permanent injunction. However, I think quite highly of Dr. Jovanovich, and trust her word that Sansum had nothing to do with Loran.
Regarding the Santa Barbara Diabetes Project, I received the same informational release from Jocelyn Ondre that was posted by Mary (Re: Santa Barbara Diabetes Project). Altho I consider this effort quite a noble undertaking and wish SBDP the greatest success, I remain skeptical that structured initiatives such as this will lead to significant progress in the quest for a near term cure.
Robin