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Letters to the Editor

Grove Hall continues to pay the price

This is such a sad story for banking and the Church (“OneUnited Bank receives U.S. Treasury service award,” Bay State Banner, Dec. 6, 2012). OneUnited was in a position to know [about church finances] before loaning nearly $5 million to Charles St. AME Church, but went ahead anyway and now they have to struggle to get their money back.

Charles St. Church has compounded mistake after mistake and has given our community an empty site in Grove Hall that daily reminds those that walk or drive past how church, finance and politics can deprive our community of the spiritual development we so sorely need.

Pay up and move on to wherever this takes you.

Haywood Fennell, Sr.
Via email

‘Race-specific’ drug debated in new book

When Marvin Gilmore and I agreed in 1994 to lease space in our Roxbury biotech incubator to start up life sciences company NitroMed, Inc., we had no idea it would lead to a serious debate about “race-specific” prescription drugs a decade later.

Our anchor tenant in this inner-city biotech facility, Boston University School of Medicine, had brought NitroMed, Inc. to us for approval. Once we said yes we proceeded to build out NitroMed’s laboratory and office space to their specifications.

Fast forward to June 2005, when the FDA approved BiDil to treat congestive heart failure in African Americans. NitroMed developed BiDil, which became the first “race-specific” prescription drug to be approved by the FDA. That launched a raging debate in the medical, biomedical, legal, medical ethics and social science communities over the merits of “race-specific” prescription drugs.

Law professor Jonathan Kahn has been following this debate for several years. Kahn’s new book Race in a Bottle, Columbia University Press, provides a comprehensive look at the ramifications of BiDil reaching the marketplace as a “race-specific” prescription drug.

As the debate continues, BiDil continues to save and prolong lives in a world where African Americans suffer from congestive heart failure at a higher rate than white Americans.

Philip S. Hart, Ph.D.
Via email