Undue inducement in clinical research

Abstract

In this issue of The Lancet, Ezekiel Emanuel and colleagues 1 Emanuel EJ Currie XE Herman A Undue inducement in clinical research in developing countries: is it a worry?. Lancet. 2005; 366: 336-340 Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (98) Google Scholar argue that, provided a research study has obtained ethics approval, we should not be concerned about issues of undue inducement of research participants. The debate about the appropriateness of reward for participation is, according to this argument, not a debate about the ethics of inducement, but rather a debate about the effectiveness of ethics review boards in determination of risk assessment in research. Undue inducement in clinical research in developing countries: is it a worry?Ethical controversy has surrounded biomedical research in developing countries. Major concerns include (1) the standard of care used in the control arm of trials, (2) the requirement to provide ancillary care during the trial, (3) the availability of interventions at the conclusions of the trial (reasonable availability), and (4) the quality of informed consent. Increasingly, people worry that undue inducements for research participants in developing countries compromise the voluntariness necessary for informed consent. Full-Text PDF