Leading health experts said that having decided it is ethical to use non-approved products to help deal with the Ebola virus epidemic, it would be unethical if those drugs were administered in the context of randomized clinical trials.
“No one insisted Western medical workers offered Zmapp or other investigational products were randomized to receive the drug, or conventional care plus placebo,” according to 17 health officials and ethicists from Africa, the U.S. and the UK, in a letter published in The Lancet.
The lack of effective treatments for Ebola, high mortality with the standard of care and the dilapidated condition of health care systems in the affected countries in West Africa, mean alternative trial designs are needed. “None of us would consent to be randomized in such circumstances,” the letter said.
Continue reading Nuala’s article here:http://lsconnect.thomsonreuters.com/health-experts-say-randomized-trials-testing-ebola-drugs/
Say No to Randomized Trials Testing Ebola Drugslsconnect.thomsonreuters.com
Leading health experts said that having decided it is ethical to use non-approved products to help deal with the Ebola virus epidemic.
