Drug company will give ailing 7-year-old medicine that could save him

[magical thyme]

9. We all would.

I would not want to be in that CEO's shoes. There are powerful ethical considerations involved. The drug has not be tested or tried in children, so no data on dosing, etc. There is nothing that says it won't kill the boy before his disease does. When they pull the limited supply out of the planned testing, it slows down FDA approval, which means that one or more lives who could be saved down the road won't be, and that is based on a gamble.

At least by putting within the context of a trial, regardless of this outcome, the information learned will go toward saving additional lives down the road.