As usual Paula, you are right on the money..I hadnt thought about comparing the risks..(if there are any)..of GDNF to chemotherapy and radiation..We know that chemo and radiation are nasty, and destroys the body along with the disease, and makes patients sick as a dog..There isnt any sickness or destruction of the body that we know of with GDNF thus far..Problem is..chemo and radiation are profitable, and GDNF is not, and the ratio of cancer patients to pd patients is much much higher, which IMHO means that once the million and a half pd patients are well on their way to recovery..there will be less patients in need of GDNF and pd meds..(less profit)..whereas there will still be millions more cancer patients in need of treatment simply because there are more of them compared to the number of pd patients..I guess what Im trying to say here is that theres more money in treating cancer patients with chemo and radiation because of the very nature of the treatment of cancer vs treating pd patients with GDNF and that is the ONLY reason why Amgen pulled the plug..It will cost them money in the long run to treat us because of the lost revenue in the need for pd drugs..When I met Steve Kaufman at the WPC he was the picture that spoke a thousand words..He was a GDNF Clinical Trail participant and you would NEVER know by looking at him that he was confined to a wheelchair before receiving GDNF therapy..And at that time I met him he hadnt received any GDNF in 17 months, and he could walk as good or better than I could and I had had pd for about 3 1/2 years at the time..Amgen can say what they want, but I know what I saw, and Amgen is full of **** period!!..GDNF works, and it is gravely unfortunate that the research was discontinued because it held some much hope and promise..This was the answer to Bush's "problem" with stem cell research, not that Im implying here that stem cell research should not move foward..The pro-lifers would have no reason to object to GDNF therapy, and maybe Im all wet here, but maybe the concept should be sold the pro-lifers as a way of getting GDNF on the radar screen untill we can get stem cell legislation passed, then we would have the best of both worlds..I dont know if this angle would change anything..Just a thought