i just have to wonder if less advanced pd'ers would volunteer knowing that receiving genes, etc. into the brain would likely preclude them from any future trials and of course there is a small risk of brain damage. i'm amazed someone volunteers for these trials in lieu of getting a DBS, thank god there are people willing to volunteer.
wonder if the NIH GDNF trial selection criteria includes a DATSCAN?

the fact that some patients showed improvement 18months after the first ceregene trial i think spurred the 2nd trial which wasn't all that expensive, so why not give it a try? not really trying to debate that trial, just putting myself in the shoes of the researchers and why they did the trial. dam*ed if you do, dam*ed if you don't.

if you listen to the MJFF webcast on that trial, the researcher said they had 2(?) patients die after(?) the first trial and autopsy showed some nerve growth, and he said they hadn't any deaths among the 2nd cohort to check nerve growth and someone from MJFF stepped in and said something like the deaths in the first cohort were not caused by the trial. so i guess they felt that was enough evidence to proceed with 2nd trial?

certainly not trying to create an argument here.