Uganda AIDS Study Under Fire Story aired: Monday, January 10, 2005
The government whistle blower who raised red flags about a drug that forms the backbone of the White House effort to prevent aids in Africa is speaking out again.
Dr. Jonathan Fishbein is a researcher at the National Institutes of Health. He claims he's being fired because he made public some concerns about a study in Uganda involving the retroviral drug nevirapine. The NIH admits the study was flawed, but says the benefits outweigh the few risks, and many aids activists agree.
Last week Dr. Fishbein spoke publicly for the first time, telling an independent panel of scientists that the U.S.-funded study of the drug endangered the lives of hundreds of patients in Uganda. He has agreed to speak with us as his lawyers listen in.
And we also speak with a Ugandan doctor involved in the nevirapine study. Dr. Philippa Musoke is chairperson of the Department of Pediatrics at Make Rere University School of Medicine. She was one of the co-investigators of the NIH study involving nevirapine.
Guests:
Dr. Jonathan Fishbein is a researcher at the National Institutes of Health
Dr. Philippa Musoke is chairperson of the Department of Pediatrics at Make Rere University School of Medicine
