WHO calls for closer monitoring of commercial interests

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7328.8c

BMJ 2002;324:8 ( 5 January )

News

WHO calls for closer monitoring of commercial interests

Rohit Sharma, Mumbai
The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Commercial interests are posing such an increasing threat to the integrity of clinical trials necessary for developing newdrugs that new regulations are needed to safeguard them from corruption,according to Dr Jonathan Quick, director of essential drugs andmedical policy at the World HealthOrganization.

In an editorial in the current Bulletin of the World Health Organization, Dr Quick says "researchers who publish or communicateresults unfriendly to the sponsors have faced intimidation, attemptsto discredit them professionally, and legal threats to recover`lost sales.'"

"If clinical trials become a commercial venture, self-interest overrules public interest and desire overrules science, thenthe social contract which allows research on human subjects inreturn for medical advances is broken," said DrQuick.

Dr Quick suggested drawing up a declaration on the rights and obligations of clinical investigators and on how to manage theentire clinical trials evidence base, along the lines . . . [Full text of this article]