Placebo run-ins prior to the clinical pharmaceutical trial proper
are, I understand, still common, despite the ethical concerns raised in
April 1997 by Professor Stephen Senn. The silence which met his article
suggests that the pharmaceutical industry and local research ethics
committees disagreed with Professor Senn.
At the heart of this I believe is the issue of whether research can
be ethical which is governed by a protocol containing information which
must not be given to the subject prior to the study, for a return which
may be of dubious scientific value.
May I more than two years on, and in a different ethical climate,
canvass opinion from readers of this electronic column?
Brian Morgan
Conflict of interest: none presently, but it may prove to be
interesting.
Rapid Response:
Placebo run-ins - what is the current position?
Placebo run-ins prior to the clinical pharmaceutical trial proper
are, I understand, still common, despite the ethical concerns raised in
April 1997 by Professor Stephen Senn. The silence which met his article
suggests that the pharmaceutical industry and local research ethics
committees disagreed with Professor Senn.
At the heart of this I believe is the issue of whether research can
be ethical which is governed by a protocol containing information which
must not be given to the subject prior to the study, for a return which
may be of dubious scientific value.
May I more than two years on, and in a different ethical climate,
canvass opinion from readers of this electronic column?
Brian Morgan
Conflict of interest: none presently, but it may prove to be
interesting.
Competing interests: No competing interests