Biology Clinical Trials Trustworthiness

Question :

A long, dismal history tells of charlatans who make unfounded promises and take advantage of people at the time when they are least able to care for themselves. The clinical trial process is the most objective method ever devised to assess the efficacy of a treatment. It is expensive and slow, and in need of constant refinements, and oversight, but the process is trustworthy. 

What do you think Zivin means when he suggests that clinical trials can be trustworthy, fast, or cheap but that in any one trial, only two of the three are possible? How does that relate to challenges in current times to create a coronavirus vaccine?

Answer :

Lack of communication and transparency leads the public to distrust clinical trials. However, clinical trials could be trustworthy if the pharmaceutical companies make the prospective patients aware of their research. Using real world evidence could be the key to build trust unless it is avoided due to heavily controlled and random trials (Pinel). Educating patients about the diseases apart from drug administration makes clinical trials trustworthy.

However, clinical trials are expensive and usually divided into three phases which makes the process extremely slow. As the phases advance, simultaneously the costs also increase. Although, this extensive process ensure that the trials are taken care of in every step and the process is transparent (Pinel). A faster process would surely incur lesser costs but such random trials can have adverse health effects and cannot be trusted.  

Unfortunately such random and cheap clinical trials are carried out and accepted in many cases with a profit motive by taking advantage of the patients’ helplessness. The slow process needs to be upgraded and refined but it is still trustworthy (Zivin). 

Hence, a clinical trial cannot be fast, cheap and trustworthy too. Only two of the three, is possible (Zivin). 

In the current context, a coronavirus vaccine is the need of the hour. Pharmaceutical companies and research scientists are in a rush to control the spread of the disease. Repeated tests are being conducted which are increasing costs for the companies. On one hand slower methods of trials would create a vaccine that is well-tested and reliable but on the other, lack of time and increasing costs might result in a vaccine that perhaps would be effective but would create health adversities. The urgent need for the vaccine might tend to compromise on its reliability and genuine effectiveness.  

References

Pinel. Biopsychology (with Beyond the Brain and Behavior CD-ROM). Pearson Education India, 2007. Web.

Zivin, Justin A. "Understanding Clinical Trials." Scientific American (2000): 69. Web.