Clinical trials are supposed to test drugs and therapies that can save lives and improve health care. But they can also prove fatal. And in India, no less than 49 babies died in clinical trials during the last 2.5 half years.
Drug regulatory bodies such as the US FDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMeA) are tightening regulatory requirements and require that new drugs be thoroughly tested in children before they can be approved for marketing. The question is who, where, and how? No parents in the western world would ever consent that their children be used as test subjects. As expected, more and more drug companies are moving their clinical studies to less developed countries where economic reasons and illiteracy make people easy prey.
Indian network IBN Live reports that 42 pediatric clinical trials have been conducted by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) during the last 2.5 years involved 4,142 babies, about 3,000 of whom were younger than 1 year. And 49 of these babies died.
Big deal! 49 out of over 4000 babies. That’s only 1.18% mortality rate.
But you know what? One lost life is one too many even if it’s in the name of science. Leave our babies alone!