The News Review:

- ACR Comments on NEJM Article on Globalization of Clinical Research
- utsourcing of Drug Trials Is Faulted
- Study Questions Ethics Efficacy of Clinical Trials Conducted verseas

ACR Comments on NEJM Article on Globalization of Clinical Research
PR Newswire (press release) NY -
A well-trained global investigator network is in the best interest of all participants in the drug development process. However the globalization of the clinical trials enterprise is a complex endeavor involving many factors. Unfortunately the authors’ ignored one of the primary drivers behind the globalization of clinical research: the limited participation rate in clinical trials in the United States and Western Europe. According to the non-profit Center for Information & Study on Clinical Research Participation 80% of clinical trials in the United States are delayed at least one month because of unfulfilled enrolment. The ramifications of this limited participation are clear. According to the National Cancer Institute fewer than 5% of cancer patients participate in clinical trials; but if the participation rate doubled to just 10% studies could be completed in one year rather than the typical three-to-five years. ACR and its members work extensively to increase clinical trial participation in the U.

utsourcing of Drug Trials Is Faulted
New York Times United States -
The authors suggest that human volunteers in foreign countries may be unduly influenced with the promise of financial compensation or free medical care to participate in clinical trials. The report “Ethical and Scientific Implications of the Globalization of Clinical Research” also asks whether drug research conducted in developing countries is relevant to the treatment of American patients. “We don’t want to imagine that lower-income countries are the clinical trial mill for higher-income countries” Dr. Schulman the lead author of the article said in a phone interview last week.

Study Questions Ethics Efficacy of Clinical Trials Conducted verseas
Newsinferno.com NY -
the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine told Medical News Today. “We don’t want there to be a lower ethical standard; we don’t want to put people at risk around the world; we don’t want people to be exploited to participate in clinical research. And clearly we need the answers to these questions to be appropriate to the markets where these products are going to be available” said Shulman according to Voices of America. This entry was posted on Friday February 20th 2009 at 11:27 amand is filed under.
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