The Power of Networking and Lessons Learned From Omegaven

As more meetings become virtual, the impact of "live" meetings is being reevaluated. Here one example of how a chance meeting at a national pharmacy meeting led to the development of a new drug therapy that reinvented how parenteral nutrition is provided to infants and children is described. Along the way, many lessons were learned both in the lab and at home. Addressing the challenges raised by others, understanding how the FDA works, and the power of parental involvement are all considered. Until 2013, the only FDA-approved lipid emulsions were those composed of pure soybean oils. Starting with compassionate use protocol in 2004, it took 18 years and hundreds of patients to bring a pure fish oil lipid emulsion to the US market. First used off label to treat a soy-allergic patient dependent on parenteral nutrition, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital later conducted animal studies on its role in treating and preventing intestinal failure associated with liver injury and later translated it into clinical trials that led to the drug's approval in 2018. This is a recount of those efforts.