University could lose millions from “unethical” research backed by Peter Thiel

Quoting https://www.thedailybeast.com/peter-thiel-funds-unethical-of... :

"Thiel has been a vocal critic of the FDA, claiming in an interview that its approval process was so unwieldy "you would not be able to invent the polio vaccine today.”"

If he does know, he's not letting his other investors know. From the same link:

""This is a test case,” said Bartley Madden, a retired Credit Suisse banker and policy adviser to the conservative Heartland Institute, who is another investor in the vaccine. “The FDA is standing in the way, and Americans are going to hear about this and demand action.""

In any case, the FDA head is Scott Gottlieb. Gottlieb's history sounds like he thinks that the FDA is overcautious. https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/donald-trump-vs-the-fda-be-... .

If your mindset is "move fast and break things" then go ahead and sell an effective anti-nausea pill - what's the chance of getting another Thalidomide? Structure the company so you can get the profits without the liability.

Or, if you think the FDA will weaken its protections, then there's profit to be made.

And for some people, if you don't sometimes get a yellow card (metaphorically speaking), you aren't trying hard enough.

_EDIT_:

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/11/14/not... says :

"Back in April, Halford and his associates press-released an investment in Rational Vaccines by Peter Thiel’s investment fund. That has generated a lot of headlines about “Peter Thiel funds illegal human trial!” and so on, but (as much as I’m skeptical about his pharma ideas), this coverage is unfair. The investment occurred after the offshore trial had already taken place, and in fact, Thiel’s people insisted that further work on the vaccine be done in a more, well, rational manner.