E-DRUG: Internet film on unethical medical experiments in India
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Internet film on unethical medical experiments in India
Amsterdam, 23 December 'Medical experiments are being conducted on society's most vulnerable, says Indian doctor Amar Jesani in Wemos' new internet film on clinical drug trials in developing countries. The film can be viewed at the Wemos channel on YouTube. Amar Jesani is a medical doctor from Mumbai with expertise in ethics and human rights. 'They are doing it because it is cheap to do it', he says when asked why pharmaceutical companies are increasingly shifting their clinical drug trials to developing countries. 'We find that a cost reduction of almost 50 to 75 percent can be carried out if they do it in developing countries. Another reason is that India is a very big country. So pharmaceutical companies are able to find enough patients for their trials.'
Desperate people
'They are very desperate', Jesani says about the people participating in clinical trials in India. 'They have either terminal diseases or they have no way of getting good health care in India. So the most vulnerable people of society are being used for the trials. That bothers me the most.'
Unethical
When asked what clinical trials on people in developing countries have to do with European citizens, Jesani answers: 'If trials are done in an unethical manner, in violation of human rights, Europeans would be guilty of making use of such drugs. So it's very important for Europe and all the developed countries to ensure that during the trial, no human rights violation has taken place.'
Available
Dr Jesani and Wemos are working together to address the issue of unethical drug testing in developing countries. Wemos wants to secure stricter ethical checks by the European regulatory bodies charged with the approval of new medicines and their admission to the European market. Dr Jesani is fighting for three things: ˜The first thing is that clinical trials in developing countries should be relevant to their needs. The second is that in the course of trials, no human rights violation should take place. And the third is that if the trial is successful, the drug which is developed should be available to developing countries at an affordable price.'
View the film at http://www.youtube.com/wemosnl
Wemos contributes to the structural improvement of people's health in developing countries through advocacy: health for all. For more information, please contact Leontien Laterveer, Communications Officer on Medicines, on +31 (0)20 ' 4352062 or +31 (0)6 ' 10305890; e-mail: leontien.laterveer@wemos.nl.
Leontien Laterveer
Communications Officer
Tel: +31 20 435 2062
Wemos contributes to the structural improvement of people’s health in developing countries: health for all.
Wemos Foundation, P.O. Box 1693, 1000 BR Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Tel: +31 20 435 2050 / fax +31 20 468 6008
leontien.laterveer@wemos.nl
www.wemos.nl