3rd Workshop on Clinical Trials - 9-12 September 2008

Since the mid 20^th century, clinical trials (especially randomized controlled trials) have emerged as the gold standard for evaluating the efficacy of a drug or treatment. So much so that there are an estimated 50,000 clinical trials being run worldwide today. In recent years, pharmaceutical companies have increasingly contracted clinical research organisations (CROs), which specialise in carrying out clinical trials, to carry out the bulk of their clinical trials. These CROs, which are often based in America or Europe, have in turn begun ‘offshoring’ their trials to countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The reasons for such offshoring, it has been suggested, can range from: an economic drive to rationalise and save costs, the growing difficulty of finding ‘treatment naïve’ populations in western countries, to a perception that ethical standards are lower in some countries.

It is the goal of the third BIONET workshop to address some of the key ethical governance challenges that arise in international clinical research collaborations. The goal of stem cell research and pharmacogenomic research is ultimately for it to be translated into clinical applications, a process that will most often rely on clinical trials. For this reason, the growing globalisation of clinical trials research is a crucial issue to examine when it comes to the ethical governance of Chinese-European biological or biomedical research collaborations.

Participation in workshops is by invitation only. Please contact Dr. Ole Döring for more information.

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