Originally Posted by basmoq

One of the actual reasons that the drug companies do not want unfettered access to research drugs is that the research controls tightly who gets the drugs to make sure that it is the right person, disease, and timing for the drug. Those researchers are generally in small groups and VERY busy dealing with the information and processes they have to follow to ensure that their (seriously, these guys designed the drug, it's theirs and on their conscience if anything happens to patients) drugs reach the market soon and safely. Just imagine if they were suddenly bogged down with millions of requests for their drug, which they would then have to screen and deal with. Could they charge for it, if so how much? How much money would they have to spend coming up with the legal consent forms? What doctor would be willing to give them the drugs? I pledged the Hippocratic oath, and personally would have objections to assisting a patient with this. The simple fact is, allowing this access would actually delay drug development by allowing a bunch of desperate people unfettered access to drugs we don't know a thing about. In the end, researchers would likely start hiding their research so that they wouldn't have to deal with the onslaught.

I've had several discussions on this exact topic with physicians here in medical school and this has always been the conclusion, based on the actual questions posed in the trial.