Chasing Medical Miracles: The Promise and Perils of Clinical Trials

Clinical trials have become a $24 billion industry that is reshaping every aspect of health care development and delivery in the United States and around the world. Chasing Medical Miracles is the first book to give readers a behind-the-scenes look at the complicated world of clinical trials and how a multibillion-dollar industry of private companies conducting clinical trials with little oversight has quietly become a major part of the American medical establishment. O'Meara reveals what every health-conscious person needs to know about how drugs, devices, and procedures are tested and approved.

Alex O'Meara is a freelance journalist who has worked for the City News Bureau of Chicago, Newsday, the Baltimore Sun, and many other media organizations. By volunteering for a clinical trial, he is one of few people in the world to have undergone an experimental islet transplant to cure diabetes. This is his first book.