In her paper, María Dolores Navarro, a professor in the UIC Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Assistant Director of the Global Institute of Public Health and Health Policy (IGS), spoke about patients' perspective when it comes to participating in clinical trials and the social dilemma it involves. "Patients should be informed", Navarro said, "about what it means to participate in a clinical trial so they can freely decide whether they want to or not". Prof. Navarro spoke about how to inform patients and the generosity involved in participating in these trials, as well as the researchers' responsibility of ensuring that society (and patients) see the results of the trials.
A clinical trial is a research design in which the efficacy of an intervention is assessed. This intervention can take the form of the administration of a drug, an educational intervention, exercises for rehabilitation and physiotherapy and many others. "The aim", according to Prof. Navarro, "is to check to see if an action is effective or not. Because a clinical trial is an experiment, considerable care must be taken to ensure the patient is safe and that nothing unethical is done. All trials are carried out with a very strict, rigorous protocol to ensure no harm is caused."
The conference was organized by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS). It was held on Monday, 20 May 2013, in commemoration of the day in 1747 on which Dr. James Lind began a clinical trial that would help reveal that the cause of scurvy, which affected seamen in the British Navy, was a Vitamin C deficiency.
Sometimes, clinical trials are the only hope for patients who have diseases with no established treatment. Many of these trials have led to progress in disease treatment and have helped turn incurable or fatal diseases into chronic ones (such as treatment of the HIV/AIDS epidemic). Having clinical trials in Spain makes it possible for some patients to gain access to early treatment methods they would otherwise have had to wait years to see.
Clinical research is also a driver of knowledge, hope and the economy: it creates jobs in the health industry and helps build an industrial community based on knowledge.
