E-DRUG: Unethical clinical trials report WEMOS & SOMO
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Dear E-druggers
A campaign has started in the Netherlands on Unethical Clinical Trials in
Developing Countries.
To start the discussion, a report was produced by 2 NGOs:
SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations;
http://www.somo.nl/index_eng.php) and
WEMOS (Working group for Medical Development Aid;
http://www.wemos.nl/en-GB/content.aspx)
The report highlights 22 cases of unethical clinical trials in developing
but also developed countries. The english report is downloadable from:
http://www.wemos.nl/Documents/clinical_%20trials_%20report.pdf or from
http://www.somo.nl/html/paginas/pdf/Examples_of_unethical_trials_nov_2006_NL
.pdf
From the report:
"Even though the overview below is necessarily incomplete and biased towards
unethical trials that have caught some publicity, some general observations
can still be made.
Firstly, unethical trials have occurred around the world, in both developed
and developing countries. In some cases, the trials had not been approved by
an ethical review committee or institutional review board, or approval had
be given for an unethical trial design. Hence there appear to be flaws, and
sometimes rather serious ones, in the regulatory systems of various
countries.
Secondly, the research organizations involved range from relatively unknown
local companies to leading multinational corporations. This might be
surprising, given that large multinational corporations usually have clear
public commitments to high ethical standards in clinical trials.
Thirdly, some of the unethical trials are of a recent date, some were even
being carried out in 2005 or 2006. Although it is sometimes argued that
instances of unethical clinical trials are isolated and outdated, this is
not always true. Note that some older cases have been included in the
overview as well, mainly because the developments following these trials are
still going on.
And finally, the nature of ethical concerns appears to be rather diverse and
relates to all paragraphs of the DoH summarized above. The lack of
voluntary, informed participation and adequately informed consent are
probably the most common problems. Trials with experimental drugs of which
the safety for testing in humans had not yet been established may be among
the most alarming examples."
A working group has been formed in the Netherlands to discuss the issue. For
more information, contact:
Annelies den Boer, project coordinator pharmaceuticals, Wemos, Tel
+31-20-4352050, mobile +31-6-30051233, e-mail annelies.den.boer@wemos.nl;
Francis Weyzig, SOMO researcher, Tel +31-20-6391291, mobile +31-6-27511852,
e-mail f.weyzig@somo.nl