Spilling the beans

“I’M THE one who looks the patient in the eye and tells them the trial is beneficial,” says Tim Crater, a research physician at the Hutchinson Clinic in Kansas. Dr Crater runs drug tests for large pharmaceutical firms. He says volunteers are interested in more than just the promise of payment. “A lot of people want to help, they are altruistic to a certain degree and want to advance science.” Dr Crater’s experience is typical. Those who participate in trials often believe that they are, in a small way, contributing to the advancement of medicine and that any suffering on their part will help others.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Though pertinent trials carried out by companies do have to be reported to those responsible for licensing drugs and medical devices, there is no obligation on firms to make them public. That means such trials cannot be scrutinised by outsiders. The licensing authorities look at them, of course, so anything approved should, in theory, be safe, and have at least some beneficial effect. But the practitioners who go on to use them do not know all the details.