Editor’s note: John Hamlet is senior director of neuroscience at PPD’s clinical research unit in Austin, Texas. Neuroscience is the therapeutic area that encompasses MS, which affects the central nervous system. He has spent more than 25 years in clinical research and project management, all of which have been with PPD. John earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and an MBA from St. Edward’s University, both of which are in Austin.
Pharmaceutical Product Development sponsored the recent Walk MS: Austin as part of the PPD Heroes initiative to raise awareness about the life-changing impact of clinical research for patients. PPD Heroes are extraordinary people whose lives have been transformed by medical therapies developed through clinical research. They share their personal stories to inspire hope and help raise awareness about the importance of increasing participation in clinical trials by patients and physicians to advance the development of next-generation therapies.
Hamlet is one of those heroes. He has multiple sclerosis (MS) yet lead a PPD team of more than 70 people who participated in the walk.
WRAL TechWire asked PPD and Hamlet to talk about his fight against MS.
AUSTIN – I was visiting with family in August 2005 when I experienced some mysterious symptoms: I had a metallic taste in my mouth and soon lost all taste in the right half of my mouth. Over the next day or two, the vision in my right eye became cloudy and quickly worsened.
Within five days, I saw six different doctors and had CAT and MRI scans to try to figure out what was happening. One doctor thought it might be a tumor, others had no idea. While traveling for business the next week, I received an early morning call from my primary doctor with a diagnosis: multiple sclerosis.
I was shocked. Fresh on my mind was the memory of my uncle who died a year earlier after a long battle with MS. At the end of his life he was completely immobile. He couldn’t speak, feed himself or perform basic functions.
When I received the call, my wife was seven months pregnant with our first daughter, and all I wondered is whether I’d be able to walk my daughter down the aisle. I questioned my ability to take family vacations, as my wife and I love travel. I also was fearful for my siblings (there are six of us) and my cousins who had lost their father. Would they also discover they have MS? It was a scary time.
Within two weeks, I went to a neurologist who confirmed the diagnosis and spent a lot of time with my wife and me to help us understand the illness. When he learned I worked for PPD in the neuroscience area, he spent extra time educating me on the illness. In the following years, because of my work, I would run into him at conferences. Our shared passion for research became a great foundation and a positive aspect of our doctor-patient relationship. He could educate me and he could use my story to educate others.
Soon after my diagnosis, I signed up for an annual walk to raise money for MS. We decided to open the walk to the whole PPD office and invite people to join the team or donate to support us. While the participation and the fundraising has been wonderful, what is even more impactful with this event is the opportunity to help others. Each year I hear from coworkers who have been diagnosed or know somebody diagnosed with MS. Like me, they are afraid of what it means for them and their families, for their careers, for their future.
A diagnosis of MS usually comes in the prime of one’s early adult life, at a time of starting families and careers, and dreaming of the future. A diagnosis like this shakes those dreams to the core. I speak with them and help them understand the diagnosis of MS, and their treatment options. I also can help them to see that the future of MS is not as bleak as the past, thanks in a large part to the research being done for new and better treatments.
Research has changed the face of MS, and PPD is an industry leader in clinical research for MS. When my uncle was diagnosed in the mid-1980s, there was no approved treatment for MS. By the late 1990s, when I started in clinical research, there were three approved drugs for MS. In the last 15 years, there has been an explosion of approved drugs, bringing the total to more than 10 treatments. When I received my diagnosis, the treatments included frequent injections, often with difficult side effects. Now I take a single pill a day. Currently, I have a light burden of disease, and contrary to my initial fears, I have a very active life. I travel regularly with my family, I am very involved in my kids’ school and activities, and I have experienced continued growth in my career.
PPD has helped conduct some of the research that has helped our clients bring these medications to patients, and I, too, have benefited directly from that research. Clinical research certainly needs to continue to make progress and lessen the MS disease burden on others, and, hopefully, discover a cure.
