The Observer just published an interview with the CEO of GSK, with tongue-in-cheek title "The Constant Garnier" (wait---didn't another U.K. newspaper use that headline a few months ago?) who seems down-to-earth and decent. Below, two brief excerpts:
..."I wouldn't be satisfied in an industry that was about selling cars or cans of drink. Healthcare is intellectually satisfying and important to the wellbeing of so many people. You are changing the world...""...If I admire anyone, it's the blue-collar worker who works hard to put his kids through college, retires and dies two years later."
Of course, the interview began with a question on the LaCarre book and film. The media are clearly paying more attention to the issue of clinical trial safety, since the awful mishap in the U.K. in March. This week, Nature Medicine published an interesting overview by Gunjan Sinha on the use of new cell-based tests that would help improve the safety of testing antibody drugs.
But attention to unethical clinical trials, the theme of "The Constant Gardener" is unlikely to fade any time soon. Especially as more trials are conducted overseas.
The India Times recently looked into the clinical trials outsourcing trend.
Two BBC News broadcast reported on the outsourcing of drug trials to India. URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4932188.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/4924012.stm
But unethical trials also occur much closer to home.
Last week, NY Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald discussed one of the most notorious cases of unethical clinical trials in California, while a newspaper reported that a U.K. doctor was accused of conducting trials without patients' knowledge.
-AMS
