Conduct of drug trials in poor countries must improve

Africa's scientific elite should speak out against the instigation of clinical trials that exploit their countries' vulnerable populations, says an editorial in the current issue of the online version of the African Journal of Neurological Sciences (http://ajns.mine.nu).

The article draws attention to the HIV and AIDS prevention trial being conducted in Cameroon, Ghana, Botswana, and Malawi by Family Health International (which is funded by the Gates Foundation) and Gilead Sciences. The trial is a randomised, placebo controlled trial of oral tenofovir, an established antiretroviral drug. Its efficacy in preventing the onset of AIDS is being assessed in HIV …