Russell Hausfeld FDA OPH Comment
Transcript
This transcript was generated automatically from YouTube's captions, then cleaned up by removing filler words, repeated words and background sounds. It may still contain errors.
[00:00] Name and organization for the record you have three minutes all righty I'd like to thank the FDA for the opportunity to provide comment today my name is Russell hosfeld and I have no conflicts of interest here for the last eight years in my capacity as a journalist I have followed the developments of the sponsor organization Leos Therapeutics or as it was known until earlier this year Maps public benefit Corporation when I initially began covering Leos I thought I was aligned with the goals to legalize and destigmatize psychedelics after years of reporting on Laos however I now fear that it would be irresponsible to endorse this company to roll out a radically new pharmaceutical and therapeutic intervention to the world over the last eight years I've been demonstrably lied to by laos's team on multiple occasions I've fielded disclosures of sexual abuse that happened on laos's watch I've observed gross mishandling and misrepresentation of clinical trial data I've seen evidence that leadership sexually and financially exploited donors and I've cataloged laos's long-term strategy to
[01:01] Mainstream its interventions through appeal to the VA and the dod while simultaneously exploiting its own better volunteer veterans because the political strategies of Leos have largely revolved around centering veterans in public relations I wanted to highlight the words of some of the Vets who volunteered with lyos and whose stories of mistreatment I cataloged during reporting I conducted in 2022 slide change please one military police veteran worked with lyos and told me I watched as Laos and its researchers used veterans up and discarded them as soon as they no longer served a useful purpose regardless of mental health consequences or social implications slide change One navy veteran told me that a number of instance told me of a number of instances in which he felt veterans were paraded around used as props and exploited for free labor slide change and a marine veteran felt that the company leader ship essentially stole his research and kicked him off of
[02:02] His own project saying if this mistreatment by lyos is happening to me it concerns me about the population that lyos will be working with moving forward working with lyos has been very very crushing to me as an individual and as a veteran further details about these stories can be found in my written comment on the FDA website in conclusion I agree with these veterans who worry about the incredible incredibly vulnerable patients that lyos intends to work with if it receives approval for MDMA histed therapy the organization has demonstrated time and time again that it is willing to play fast and loose with data and with people's lives I do not trust Leos to spearhead a new industry of psychedelic Pharmaceuticals and I ask that the FDA think hard on the potential consequences of allowing this company to move forward with approval thank you for your time
