Katrina Cox, Blog 5, 10-4-12, 4:41pm, Russians Eagerly Participate in Medical Experiments, Despite Risks

Many people around the world participate in clinical drug trials. In Russia, there has been a significant increase in the number of clinical trials and the number of people participating in them. This increase is the result of an effort to make the Russian economy more diversified by welcoming the investments and incentives that are associated with clinical trials. Consequently, the Russian government has made it easier for drug companies to utilize Russian citizens in their trials. A law was passed in 2010 that made clinical trials mandatory before the associated drugs can be marketed and a Russian website, comparable to WebMD, is attempting to assist the drug companies find candidates based on their web searches. Thousands of Russians are eager to participate and there has been over a 100% increase in the last year. Many are so willing to participate in the trials because it is the only way they can have access to healthcare. Some choose to participate even after seeing the side effects or allergic reactions in others. This trend can also be seen in Singapore, South Korea and China. These countries are also offering incentives to obtain the attention of drug companies. Many of these drug companies are eager to move into this new market to combat the “high costs and recruitment difficulties in the United States and Europe. The results of these trials are used to obtain approval of drugs by the United States Food and Drug Administration. This is a very sad situation in that so many are participating in these clinical trials in order to receive some sort of health care. This is putting people who are already at high risk for health problems into an even riskier health situation.  The participants do have a choice whether or not to participate, but the choice of not having any health care seems scarier to them. The drug companies are already performing these trials in countries where many more people have access to health care. Why must they resort to further exploiting the poor in other nations in order to further their own causes? They accomplish this by claiming that the trials will be of benefit to increasing the overall health care around the globe. This may be of benefit at some point, but there is no way to know if these drugs and clinical trials are going to cause more harm than good.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/business/global/russians-eagerly-participating-in-medical-experiments-despite-risks.html?pagewanted=2&ref=research