Healthcare is changing rapidly as new discoveries about disease and disease processes, diagnosis and treatments are made. The Clinical trials landscape is also changing rapidly with the rise of new technologies and a global commitment to drive improved efficiency, reduce cost and increase the speed at which new treatments are made available to patients.
In the quest to be faster, better, smarter, we must still take time to consider the ethical impacts of those changes, and appropriately debate their acceptability. Ethics must keep pace with this era of rapid change in order to facilitate research, however, ensuring the impact of these technologies and clinical trial design and conduct is in step with the expectations of society is critical for the ongoing trust of the public in the process. This is key if we are to expect that the public will continue to participate in clinical trials and research.
Different clinical trials may have different ethical considerations depending on for example, location(s), experience of the researchers, population being studied, rarity of the disease, regulatory environment, methods and tools being employed. But there are some general questions that are broadly applicable to all types of clinical trials.
The March #AusCT chat can’t hope in an hour to cover off all the possible ethical challenges facing clinical trials in general today. But we do plan to make a start, by asking what you think the greatest ethical challenges currently are for clinical trials. We will then dive into a few hot issues, that relate to the use of these technologies, consent and data protection and privacy.
Join us on Twitter at 12.30pm Sydney Australia time, on Friday 3 March for what we hope will be a lively discussion around this topic to be moderated by @GentgallMelanie. All are welcome.
Thanks to everyone that participated in the chat. If you missed it, the chat has been summarised here: https://storify.com/JanelleBowden/ausct-3mar17-wrap-the-ethical-challenges-in-clinic