I have 2 dogs

Both are Labrador retrievers.  They’re amazing dogs and I’m blessed to have them in my life.

I had an interaction with them today that triggered a thought about clinical research.

The dogs are brother and sister and we’ve had them since they were pups. Today I was working and reached down with my hand and was petting the female. It was a relaxing interaction until her brother (who was in the other room) could hear her getting pet. How that’s possible, I don’t know. I think he has a sixth sense for when his sister is getting attention. He leapt off his bed and headed in our direction, nails clicking on the floor. As soon as his sister heard him coming, she tensed up and started prancing in place and pawing at my arm to make sure I continued to pay attention to her. As her brother arrived and tried to get in on the action, she promptly hip checked him out of the way. Not to be deterred, he forced his way in. My relaxing interaction with one dog while I was working turned into stopping work to use both my hands to pet the dogs.

This is a bit like how it works with investigators and pharmaceutical companies. The investigator is working away, and a pharmaceutical company comes along with a drug in development that has a certain mechanism of action. Things are going fairly smoothly until another sponsor arrives with a competing drug with the same mechanism and the first sponsor reacts. New studies are launched and communication with the investigator ramps up. Ad boards are set up. Publications, posters, and press releases increase to keep the investigator’s attention while the new sponsor tries to come up with a new angle to secure the attention of the investigator. Pretty soon the investigator is distracted from all sides and gets very little work done.

There’s no point to this story, it’s just a symptom of working in this industry so long. Your brain can turn anything into an analogy for clinical research.

Hope your week is going well.