Who has the Ultimate Responsible for Publishing Cli- nical Research Results?
HENRY WILDE, M.D.*, VISITH SITPRUA, M.D.*
Affiliation : * Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Thailand has become a fertile soil where international pharmaceutical companies clamor to try out their latest products in phase II, III and mostly IV trials. These activities have had some beneficial effects for the Thai academic community as funds have come in to supplement low govern- ment salaries and investments have been made in new computers and often badly needed additional laboratory apparatus. Young and not-so-young inves- tigators have been able to attend international con- ferences and eat fine meals in good hotels. There are, however. some risks attached to doing com- mercially sponsored research. Worldwide, a few excellent scientist's reputations have suffered when they became identified as "professional drug testers". Much of their work then becomes suspect and not likely to be accepted by first-rate international peer review journals. Their research may then be viewed with some reservations by regulatory agencies such as the US-FDA and the scientific community at large. Clinical research is expensive, even when done in a developing country. The company sponsor is not doing studies as a charitable service, but expects results that will help them gain FDA
Keywords : Ethics, Researcher
