Click to play videoNew Delhi: The enquiry panel to probe clinical trials at AIIMS has given a clean chit to the pediatrics department.
The enquiry was set up after a RTI filed by the Uday Foundation revealed that 49 babies had died between January 2006 and June 2008 during clinical trials.
In August, reports came saying that clinical trials for testing new drugs and therapies at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have claimed as many as 49 babies over the last two and a half years.
But, the enquiry report into clinical trials at AIIMS has given a clean chit to the pediatrics department.
The results of enquiry committee report state that the infants died as they were terminally ill. It also says that more deaths were recorded in groups where standard medication was administered.
“If we come out with ridiculous reports claiming that clinical trials should be stopped we will always be at the mercy of the west for medicine and medical advancements,” says Secretary Department of Biotech Dr M K Bhan.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) too came out in defence of the trials. The medical officer of the WHO coordinating with AIIMS in a letter to CNN-IBN says,” The safety of the children and the conduct of the studies has been rigorous and consistent with the most stringent international norms.”
While AIIMS may have been able to come clean from this controversy, experts feel that there is an urgent need to have more stringent guidelines in place for clinical trial especially for the ones that have been sponsored by pharmaceutical companies to check the efficacy of new drugs.
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