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Dr. CROUT. For what? It is approved for cystitis. For what indica-
tion?
The CHAIRMAN. Pardon?
Dr. CROUT. For which of the several indications?
The CHAIRMAN. Well, at least in the treatment of pain with
respect to arthritis, in respect to soreness, in respect to sprains, in
respect to swelling. Those are some of the questions that have been
raised here today.
Dr. CROUT. Since there are no trials on that issue, controlled
trials, going on now to my knowledge—-
The CHAIRMAN. Pardon?
Dr. CROUT. There are no trials on that issue going on.
The CHAIRMAN. My question was, Doctor, how long do you think
it would take for a proper showing if it could be made to you?
Dr. CROUT. My suspicion is a drug firm would probably take a
year to do that trial.
The CHAIRMAN. A year?
Dr. CROUT. In order to get it organized, attract investigators, get
it through review committees and conduct it and have the data
back is probably about a 1-year venture.
The CHAIRMAN. I believe you said Dr. Scherbel had made a
presentation and some of his application was approved. Do you
regard him as qualified to participate in the preparation of a case?
Dr. CROUT. Absolutely, yes, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. And Dr. Jacob.
Dr. CROUT. Yes.
The CHAIRMAN. And then some drug company that is knowledge-
able about it and wishes to prepare the case to present it.
Dr. CROUT. There is such a company. Research Industries is now
the marketer of DMSO in this country.
The CHAIRMAN. Well, Doctor, you know I have often thought that
it would make a great deal of difference-I have had in my family
some tragedies, one particular tragedy. And I know how long it has
taken to get interferon available. I have a dear friend now in
Miami. I have talked to him. He has appealed to every place that I
could refer him to. Manufacture is not going to start until July.
Somebody else cannot do something for some time.
It has taken months to issue the invitation to bid. If the people
that make those decisions had a wife lying there dying with cancer,
I wonder if it would take them so long to come to a conclusion
about how to offer the substance on a bid.
I wish sometimes that some of the people making some of these
decisions had painful arthritis and it was a wretched experience
every day brought to you. You would be looking a little bit more
anxiously for somebody who could come up with something that
could ameliorate your trouble.
Our committee would like very much to see in this particular
case, with propriety-I am not asking you to do anything that is
not within the law and within propriety-but if you could in a
kindly way, because so many people do believe that this drug has
efficacy-if you could cooperate with those who are anxious to get
the data presented, and then you could give your consideration to
it with all possible speed, all deliberate speed, as the Supreme
Court said in a case, we would appreciate your doing so. We would
