unforum

[duckiemonster]

/me has a Strongbad moment. It is soon over.


I don't think this new drug is all that different to the ones used in Earth medicine for Alzheimers, bi-polar disorder, epilepsy, psychotic illnesses and the like or the sedatives that we have.

Did Miranda give it to him? For some more idle spec, perhaps he took her into his confidence about the barrow-feld and thought that she was helping him. Perhaps not.

[European Chris]

Re: [UPDATE] Sentinel - 03 April 06 - Drug Trials

[cassandra]

I'm not sure how the lethal drug can really be Veritana(-esque) when it clearly is ceretiva-derived on the autopsy report. Not saying Isaac couldn't have had Barrow-Feld (which would explain why Violet thought him slimy at times), but there should also be a chemical signature for versions of Veritana (which also should have completely different neural mechanisms/overdose symptoms than a stimulant).

The drug that worries me a bit is Neuroceptin (I'm assuming it's similar to Thorazine or another neuroleptic) - mostly the fact that you can obtain it for use on somebody else.

[duckiemonster]

To be fair, any prescription drug can have side-effects that could potentially be used for evil. Even non-prescription drugs have potential for evil; it's possible to kill people with paracetamol... heck, you can make some people ill with cough sweets*

I don't think the suggestion is that it was the trial drug that knocked him off, but that he might have thought he was taking the trial drug, then someone slipped him something else that looks the same, but would be lethal at that dosage, or had cumulative effects over several weeks.

But all this spec kind of hinges on whether Cymballisty actually had barrow-feld or not.


*as long as your victim has PKA and the cough sweets have phenylalanine in them.

[cassandra]

Ah, I see now. Though the fact that it was dissolved in the coffee is still strange, if IC knew he was taking a drug..

Something else about Veritana I don't quite understand: the drug trials at Cognivia were initiated in late 266. From the article:

[Scott]

I took it to mean she is only just now marked as being a success story. She has been undergoing treatment and observation fFor some while, and now, this week, doctors are confident in declaring her Cured. But I see how I could be wrong there.

By the way, I'm given to think Cymbalisty didnt have Barrow-Feld. He may be creepy, but that doesn't mean he had difficulty with ethical decision-making. As fFar as we know, he wasn't lying, cheating, or stealing. I'd suppose we don't have any solid evidence here yay or nay. But Anna seemed to think he was a good and fFair man. Not at all the sort prone to inconsistent moral choices. But then, maybe he was really good at controlling it. Perhaps we should simply ask Anna, eh.

[zaeil]

The stories match up fine. First of all, Lowry-Barton's Barrow-Feld is not reversed. The article states that she still feels anti-social impulses but the Veritana makes it possible for her to ignore them--for her to act as herself and not as a prisoner of the disease. And the drug is still in clinical trials, probably only Phase I or II based on the timeframe.

As for Harrowak, he might not have wanted to take part in the clinical trial, or might not have even known about it. Also, a pharmaceutical company generally doesn't publicize drugs it has in trials unless subjects are needed (and even then, the publicity tends to be kept low-key), so the media likely didn't know about it to report it until now.

I have to throw in here that I don't think that Cymbalisty was taking Veritana in his coffee! It'd be a unusual delivery method to say the least, and most likely outside the guidelines for the clinical trial. That is, presuming he was part of it, which I don't think he was. I'm more inclined to think that he was a casual user of Ceretin. Maybe he didn't think he was all that bright compared to his peers--and in a society where intelligence is highly prized, having such a view of himself might drive him to artificially enhance that aspect. Still can't really explain the possible black-market Ceretiva derivative, though!