If you remember last season, we couldn't help but notice the similarities between the storyline for Michael J. Fox as Daniel Post and the GDNF clinical trial issue. Even though Daniel Post has terminal stage 4 lung cancer, not PD except in his initials backwards, he interfered with a clinical trial and got sued. There were several lines in the script that were eerily similar to what was going on with Amgen, with Michael representing in his character the "ethical" challenge we face when dealing with big business, him being a CEO who unfairly bribed to avoid the placebo. On the other hand, he eventually realized that this was a problem and changed his thinking. It's either brilliant, or I'm brilliant for connecting it all - I'd vote for Mike and the Boston Legal writers lol. The FOX Foundation, I"m guessing, will politely deny any connection. Oh yeah there is that third choice that I am delusional.

Anyway, Daniel Post throws his own funeral before he dies, and after a few episodes goes off to "die". Then he appears on the season finale, asking his attorney, whom he had fallen in love with, to marry him....an odd thing to do when you are either dying or supposed to be dead. This was their cliiffhanger.

Our advocacy efforts with GDNF included a meeting with the Fox Foundation last April and we are hoping for a meeting with Amgen this fall. I have no inside information about the episode, I just wanted to make it known that they are all very much aware of the GDNF advocacy efforts at FOX, and now also think that the phase II trial was "inconclusive.

Information about the season premiere of Boston Legal is now online. It airs Sept. 19 - coming up. The title of the episode is "Can't we all get a lung?"

Daniel has a friend who is dying of a brain tumor and offers him his lung. Daniel in return offers to pay for his daughter's college tuition. This lands him in trouble and in court, where he has to fight for his right to the treatment. cough cough

It ends with the case being sent to the Mass. Supreme Court. Sounds like it could possibly end with Michael having a treatment available but is being denied.

Stem cells could also apply here. But there are other similarities that I don't want to write so as not to give it away. I will say that in the actual trial to try to get compassionate use of GDNF, the patients were told Amgen was completely separate from the patients and that there was no contract obligating Amgen to be responsible for their welfare. Try to remember that .

This is called entertainment. It's fun to look for things and we haven't been disappointed.

So in Ladies Home Journal or somewhere recently, I heard Mike say he was going to be on one episode of Boston Legal. One? Fibbing, or Will he die before the treatment becomes available? Will he die before his friend does or will a court hold it up? Maybe he'll be cured. An interesting note: I don't know if this will come out in the script or not but in the forum they were discussing how a lung wounldn't save a stage 4 cancer patient, would at best buy him some time [ another similarity alert there].

Adding here that Michael's character , a CEO billionaire, has questionable ethics. Do you think real CEO's are like that? Drug companies wouldn't put themselves ahead of their patients would they?

We still need help and have much planned for improving clinical trials. Contact Parkinson Pipeline or Grassroots Connection if you are interested in getting involved.

This is all based on what is written on the Boston Legal Site, and speculated inside my increasingly cell-less head.

paula