Ethical dilemmas encountered during clinical drug trials.

Abstract

We are fortunate to live in an era when medicine is making important progress in the diagnosis of many diseases, which have plagued mankind for centuries. The pace of progress is really staggering. New potent drugs are introduced continuously. The evaluation of their efficacy and safety is an arduous and costly process that involves laboratory work, animal studies and human trials. Someone must take a new drug first hence, human experimentation is unavoidable. Over the years, principles and rules have been introduced to guarantee respect for the individual. In our present state of knowledge, randomised clinical trials are necessary. They aim not only at the actual patient's treatment, but also to serve future patients who will need the drug. We should appreciate that conscientious people have established an ethical basis for the proper conduct of RCTs. Individual investigators in basic sciences, in institutions, and the pharmaceutical companies, all contribute to a common end--the production of useful drugs. Most of us are involved in clinical trials. The present review has discussed briefly some of the ethical dilemmas encountered during the clinical trial process in order to encourage the exercise of more humane medicine.