The world of medical research gets another turn at Hollywood fame—albeit a weak one—in Extraordinary Measures, which opens tomorrow at movie theaters. Based on the true story of John Crowley (played by Brendan Fraser), it follows the business man’s fight to save his two children affected by Pompe disease—a rare genetic disorder that causes muscle deterioration and, eventually, leads to fatal organ enlargement. (Trailer and further review below the fold…)

Geeta Anand’s book ‘The Cure’ previously detailed this real-life drama. But the film condenses the story further with the creation of Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford), a brash anti-hero who serves as the scientific counterpart in Crowley’s pursuit. Stonehill is a fictional amalgam of the many researchers Crowley worked with, so much of the back-and-forth in the inspiring partnership onscreen has to be taken with a grain of salt.

The same goes for Crowley’s interaction with industry. In the movie, Crowley creates the start-up Priozyme to support Stonehill, but the company is taken up by Zymagen, where multiple enzymes for Pompe are being developed. The search for the right enzyme turns into a competition between four projects, each with a different version, to see which has the most promise and should go to trials. Much of the drama comes out of this conflict and the pharmaceutical bureaucracy involved—though the movie substitutes names for Crowley’s Novazyme and the real-life Genzyme. But the film oversimplifies the story by making industry the villain. Extraordinary Measures also glosses over the intricacies of scientific standards, such as conflicts of interest and the clinical trials process, in favor of an emotional response.

**Spoiler Alert** When the data finally comes through, Zymagen selects another enzyme over Stonehill’s, but Crowley’s children participate in a sibling study of the medicine and improve. In real life, the medicine is known as Myozyme, and a scaled-up version called Lumizyme is expected for FDA approval this June. **End Spoiler**

Putting aside the scientific issues and some poor pacing, Extraordinary Measures does succeed in pulling at a few heartstrings and generating interest in Pompe, which affects up to 10,000 people worldwide. But if you watch the movie, it’s likely not for education. For the mainstream, this is just another inspirational medical movie, better meant for TV. For the medical audience, this story of medical discovery might be better left to the research papers it was based on.