India is the victim of a new "pharmaceutical colonialism": the British newspaper The Independent accuses Western pharmaceutical companies of making the most of the poor regulation existing in the country to conduct low-cost clinical trials. Since 2005, the year in which many of the restrictions on clinical trials of drugs were repealed, at least 150,000 people have been involved in about 1,600 tests, for a turnover estimated at over 200 million euros: between 2007 and 2010, however, 1,730 people have lost their lives during or shortly after their studies; although most were still seriously ill (and for this reason chosen for clinical trials) the complications induced by the new drugs are not always adequately investigated. Furthermore, quite a few studies are carried out on poor or illiterate people without these giving their informed consent; indeed there would be a real industry for the recruitment of "human guinea pigs".
November 15, 2011 Il Giornale.it
