21
Aug2018

Taking a Closer Look at the New Federal “Right to Try” Law

Tags:
21 Aug
Comments: 1

On May 30, 2018, the four-year Right to Try (RTT) movement culminated in a new federal law, with the stated goal of providing terminally ill patients with a new route of access to early phase investigational drugs that are currently in clinical development and not approved or generally available to all patients in need. RTT laws seek to remove federal FDA oversight and regulations from the pre-approval process, in which patients seek to access experimental drugs in development outside of the clinical trials in which the drugs are being tested, despite the fact that terminally ill patients already had the right to request such access under FDA regulations for decades through the Expanded Access Program. Read more

13
Aug2018

Clinical Research Ethics Question of the Month: August 2018

Tags:
13 Aug
No comments

You are the chief human research protections officer at a prestigious academic medical center (AMC). You have just discovered that two doctors on your staff have been secretly conducting a clinical study on their patients. The doctors have broken every rule in the human subjects protection book. They did not even tell their patients they were in a clinical study, and some of them died. The president of the AMC has called a meeting this afternoon where you will have to explain the situation and make your recommendations. What a nightmare! To complicate things, it turns out that the study treatment is an astonishing medical breakthrough that can save thousands of lives. The doctors want to submit a paper to a major medical journal by the end of the week. A Nobel Prize could be in order. Read more

6
Aug2018

From the Director: PRIM&R submits comments to EPA on “Transparency” Rule

Tags:
6 Aug
No comments

In April, the EPA published a proposed rule titled, Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science. The rule would prohibit the EPA from basing regulatory action on scientific studies for which the underlying raw data and models are not publicly available “in a manner sufficient for validation and analysis.” The due date for comments on this rule is August 16. As a nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing the highest ethical standards in the conduct of research that advances human health and well-being, PRIM&R decided it was important to comment on this proposed rule, detailing two main concerns. First, we believe that the proposed rule arbitrarily restricts access to and use of rigorous, peer-reviewed science in environmental policymaking, to the detriment of the public’s health and trust in the regulatory process. Second, we argue that the proposed rule fails to respect the contributions of human research participants. We urge EPA to withdraw this misguided rule immediately. Read more

3
Aug2018

Research Ethics Roundup: African-American Participation in DNA Testing, Difficulties Finding Participants for Alzheimer’s Trials, Eleven Babies Die in Dutch Drug Trial, and the Need for More Investigations into Research Misconduct

Tags:
3 Aug
No comments

This edition of Research Ethics Roundup covers African-American participation in DNA testing, difficulties recruiting participants for Alzheimer's trials, even when results are promising, the deaths of eleven babies born to mothers in a Dutch drug trial involving generic Viagra, and a call for research misconduct investigations across Britain by the United Kingdom’s House of Commons science and technology committee. Read more

26
Jul2018

PRIM&R’s Comments on FDA’s Draft Guidance on Considerations for Inclusion of Adolescents in Adult Oncology Clinical Trials

Tags:
26 Jul
No comments

PRIM&R recently submitted comments in response to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s draft guidance "Considerations for Inclusion of Adolescent Patients in Adult Oncology Clinical Trials," which was published in the Federal Register on June 4, 2018.

We applaud the draft guidance’s recommendation that adolescent patients with cancer be enrolled in disease- and target- appropriate adult oncology research, provided certain conditions are met. Presently, adolescents with cancer need to [...] Read more