Nancy Fern Olivieri (born 1954) is a prominent
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
haematologist
Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...
and researcher with an interest in the treatment of
haemoglobinopathies. She is best known for a protracted struggle with the
Hospital for Sick Children and the
pharmaceutical company
The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate sympto ...
Apotex
Apotex Inc. is a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation. Founded in 1974 by Barry Sherman, the company is the largest producer of generic drugs in Canada, with annual sales exceeding . By 2016, Apotex employed over 10,000 people as one of Canada's ...
about the drug
deferiprone
Deferiprone, sold under the brand name Ferriprox among others, is a medication that chelates iron and is used to treat iron overload in thalassaemia major. It was first approved and indicated for use in treating thalassaemia major in 1994 and h ...
.
Early life
Olivieri was born to the
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
, Doctor Fernando Olivieri and Victoria Olivieri.
Her paternal grandfather had immigrated to Hamilton from Italy in 1909.
[ Olivieri received a Bachelor of Science from the ]University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
and an MD from McMaster University
McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...
in 1978. She has also pursued training in Internal Medicine and Hematology at McMaster, University of Toronto, and Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.[
]
Deferiprone controversy
Starting in 1989, Olivieri was part of a group evaluating the use of a drug, deferiprone
Deferiprone, sold under the brand name Ferriprox among others, is a medication that chelates iron and is used to treat iron overload in thalassaemia major. It was first approved and indicated for use in treating thalassaemia major in 1994 and h ...
, in treating persons with the blood disorder thalassaemia
Thalassemias are inherited blood disorders characterized by decreased hemoglobin production. Symptoms depend on the type and can vary from none to severe. Often there is mild to severe anemia (low red blood cells or hemoglobin). Anemia can result ...
.[ Starting from 1985, this work included a clinical trial partly funded by Apotex. During the course of the trial, Olivieri became concerned about evidence that pointed to the drug being inefficacious for some patients. Olivieri informed both the research ethics board that was monitoring the study and Apotex, the drug maker. The research ethics board instructed Olivieri to inform participants about her concerns. Apotex responded by noting that Olivieri had signed a confidentiality agreement as part of the drug trial and that informing participants about her concerns, the validity of which Apotex disputed, would violate that confidentiality agreement. In 1996, Apotex threatened to vigorously pursue legal remedies against her if she disclosed her conclusions to patients.][ Olivieri disclosed her concerns to her patients and Apotex ended the portion of the study in which she was participating. In 1998, the '']New England Journal of Medicine
''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one.
Hist ...
'' published a paper by Olivieri and seven other authors, with further study results suggesting that deferiprone
Deferiprone, sold under the brand name Ferriprox among others, is a medication that chelates iron and is used to treat iron overload in thalassaemia major. It was first approved and indicated for use in treating thalassaemia major in 1994 and h ...
led to progressive hepatic fibrosis.
Olivieri's scientific findings, which sparked the controversy, have been challenged on the basis of data from clinical trials conducted by Apotex.[Full Text]
Deferiprone
Deferiprone, sold under the brand name Ferriprox among others, is a medication that chelates iron and is used to treat iron overload in thalassaemia major. It was first approved and indicated for use in treating thalassaemia major in 1994 and h ...
is approved for use in over 50 countries, but not in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.[Full Text]
It was approved in the US in 2011 under the FDA's accelerated approval program.
An investigation commissioned by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) revealed that one of Olivieri's critics, Gideon Koren
Gideon Koren, FACMT, FRCP(C) ( he, גדעון קורן; born August 27, 1947 in Tel Aviv, Israel) is an Israeli-Canadian pediatrician, clinical pharmacologist, toxicologist, and a composer of Israeli folk music. He was a doctor at the Hospit ...
, had anonymously sent disparaging letters about Olivieri to the media and colleagues. Koren initially denied responsibility, but substantial DNA evidence tied him to the letters, and he was reprimanded.
Olivieri has advocated greater academic freedom
Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...
and called for less control of research by pharmaceutical companies
The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...
. This situation was publicised extensively and was investigated by the Canadian Association of University Teachers.[ Olivieri was awarded the 2009 AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility for her '' "indefatigable determination that patient safety and research integrity come before institutional and commercial interests and for her courage in defending these principles in the face of severe consequences."''http://www.aaas.org/aboutaaas/awards/freedom/freedom2009.shtml]
/ref>
See also
* List of whistleblowers
This is a list of major whistleblowers from various countries. The individuals below brought attention to abuses of government or large corporations. Many of these whistleblowers were fired from their jobs or prosecuted in the process of shining l ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Nancy F Olivieri, BSc, MD, FRCPC
- University Health Network
University Health Network (UHN) is a public research and teaching hospital network in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest health research organization in Canada and ranks first in Canada for total research funding. It was named Canada's ...
Research.
Hemoglobal
- a charitable organization founded by Nancy Olivieri and David Weatherall
Sir David John Weatherall, (9 March 1933 – 8 December 2018) was a British physician and researcher in molecular genetics, haematology, pathology and clinical medicine.
Early life and education
David Weatherall was born in Liverpool.Geoff Wa ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olivieri, Nancy
Living people
Canadian medical researchers
University of Toronto alumni
University of Toronto faculty
McMaster University alumni
20th-century Canadian physicians
21st-century Canadian physicians
Canadian women physicians
Canadian whistleblowers
Scientists from Toronto
Physicians from Ontario
Canadian hematologists
20th-century women physicians
21st-century women physicians
Canadian people of Italian descent
20th-century Canadian women scientists
1954 births