"Sir Arthur C.B.E. Wholeflaffers �.S.�." <nospam@newsranger.com> wrote in
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In article <c1mohs$1oge$1@pencil.math.missouri.edu>, VERACARE says...

To: Jean Chretien; Pierre Pettigrew
Cc: Member Pariiament

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)
Promoting openness and full disclosure
http://www.ahrp.org

FYI

An investigation by CanWest News Service (Canada) reveals that "research
companies are pressuring Canadian doctors to enroll patients quickly into
trials, engaging in questionable recruiting practices and are at times
conducting trials that are not ethically or scientifically sound. "

not far off on that one. I had one doctor sign me up for a 'volunteer'
testing at the local hospital
which was to consist of giving me IVSaline solution to 'see' how much I
could tolerate or if it
had any 'effect/cause' for some of my health problems. Naturally I was a 'no
show'

Canadians are finding out that behind those advertisements seeking human
subjects to test drugs is a booming $1-billion industry that has

effectively

undermined the physician-patient relationship. Once upon a time, people

had

reason to trust their physicians, expecting that   patient

confidentiality

was sacrosanct and that doctors would recommend only those treatments

they

thought would be beneficial to their patient.  Not anymore. CanWest

reports:

"Some companies are going through medical records provided by doctors to
identify people suitable for specific trials, a practice that is

considered

unethical and might violate federal privacy laws."

hey, have you ever been in a doctors' office half dead from whatever ailing
you and in walks the
'drug' salesman with his little black sample bag? How come HE  got in before
the rest of us sick people??? He looked healthy as an ox.

Physicians have become medical entrepreneurs who exploit their access to
patients for financial  gain. Doctors are getting "finders fees" of

$1,000

to $5,000 for every subject they sign up for a clinical trial. "In some
trials, doctors are little more than middlemen who sign up patients and
provide the drug being tested."

does anyone ever read the three page 'side effects' warnings before taking
any of that stuff???

It would appear that Canadian medicine is descending to the US level.
In the process the healing profession is being transformed into licensed
profiteers.
In the process, the integrity of medicine, trust in the physician-patient
contract, and the dignity of individual patients are all being undermined
for cash.

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
Tel: 212-595-8974
e-mail: veracare@ahrp.org

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=5703c310-42

8

c-4b04-b731-36ecb835bb07

Vancouver Sun, February 23,2004
Doctors pressure human guinea pigs
MDs are paid up to $5,000 per patient to sign up volunteers for drug

trials

Margaret Munro
CanWest News Services

Monday, February 23, 2004

CREDIT: The Calgary Herald

Canadian human research subjects are an increasingly sought-after

commodity

in a $1-billion drug-testing industry that recruits patients by the head.

Seniors with dementia are testing pills designed to slow mental decline.
Heart attack victims are signing on to test new clot-busting drugs. And a
growing number of Canadians are responding to newspaper and Internet ads
recruiting volunteers to try new treatments for everything from arthritis

to

flagging sex drive.

Testing medicines on human volunteers is an essential stage in developing
new, potentially lifesaving drugs. Animal testing can only go so far and
drugs must be tested on humans -- and lots of them -- before they can be
allowed on the market.

sheesh.........we are all just lab rats for drug companies

But a four-month CanWest News Service investigation has found that

research

companies are pressuring Canadian doctors to enrol patients quickly into
trials, engaging in questionable recruiting practices and are at times
conducting trials that are not ethically or scientifically sound.

Some companies are going through medical records provided by doctors to
identify people suitable for specific trials, a practice that is

considered

unethical and might violate federal privacy laws.

Research ethics boards, which are supposed to protect trial volunteers,

have

been caught cutting corners and reprimanded for not properly warning
patients of the risks involved in trials. One major Canadian university

for

years broke federal ethics rules and failed to warn patients of all the
dangers and side-effects associated with its medical experiments and drug
trials.
In some trials, doctors are little more than middlemen who sign up

patients

and provide the drug being tested. They then leave it to private

companies

to field patient queries, collect and analyse the data, and write the

trial

reports.

Physicians are typically paid $1,000 to $5,000 per patient enrolled in a
trial, compensation seldom declared to the patients swallowing the pills.
Some physicians and academics who have built careers doing research for

drug

companies can pull in as much as $500,000 a year.

so if we are being used to test their drugs shouldn't we at least get a
'cut' in the profits??

Professor Trudo Lemmens, a lawyer at the University of Toronto, says
"finders fees" for recruiting patients are now commonplace, even though

they

are seldom described as such. The fees are typically integrated into
per-patient payments to doctors involved in trials, he says. Or they come

in

the form of honorariums, invitations to meetings in interesting parts of

the

world, and offers of more research contracts to doctors who are good
recruiters.

The scientific value of some trials is another concern. Patients and

doctors

are often told their participation in trials will help lead to new
knowledge. "You can make a difference by assisting medical research,"

says a

recent recruiting ad in Montreal. But there is no guarantee the data
collected in trials will ever be released or the studies completed.

yeah, and when the patient takes the 'sample' the good doctors provide 'free
of charge' out of the kindness of their hearts, and if there is a problem or
reaction what does the doctor say??
"Then don't take it". That response goes for the expensive medicines one
forks out cash for at the drugstore.The truth is sometimes it is the
druggist himself who may bring attention to the patient about the dangers of
some of the medications they take or the possible interactions when they use
different medications at the same time.

There have been several trials where data that might have harmed the

sales

of certain drugs has been suppressed. Other studies have been abruptly
cancelled. A huge international trial comparing blood pressure

treatments,

which included more than 3,000 Canadians, was aborted last spring when

the

sponsoring company suddenly stopped the project. "We were very

frustrated,"

says Dr. Yves Lacourciere, the Quebec City-based principal investigator

for

the Canadian arm of the trial.

Detailed information on clinical trials underway in Canada and the "per
patient" fees paid for specific trials is hard to come by. The deals

signed

between research companies, doctors, and universities are secret. But a
report prepared for the federal government last year estimated between

$800

million and $1 billion is spent on clinical trials in Canada each year --
making it the largest pot of medical research funding in the country.

There is a detailed list of the number of rats, mice, dogs and cats used

in

research in Canada each year. But no one knows for certain how many
Canadians are recruited into clinical trials. One rough estimate, reached

by

extrapolating from U.S. numbers, suggests as many as 1,865,000 Canadians
participate in clinical trials each year.

Health Canada, federal research councils, the pharmaceutical industry,
universities, medical associations, and the National Council on Ethics in
Human Research all have rules about clinical trials. Those rules state

that

trials must be scientifically and ethically sound; patients may not be
coerced or misled into joining trials; they must be clearly told the

risks;

doctors should be properly trained to run trials and not paid excessive

fees

for recruiting patients.
But not nearly enough is being done to ensure the rules are followed,

says

Professor Michael McDonald, an ethicist at the University of B.C. He

headed

a Law Commission of Canada study that in 2000 pointed to major problems

with

the system meant to ensure protection of Canadians volunteering for

trials.

McDonald and many of his colleagues say the secretive industry cries out

for

better oversight.

Canadians, they say, deserve a more proactive and transparent system of
protection.
"It's a really sad situation," says McDonald.
TUESDAY: Paying for patients: When the research promoters pitch trials,
doctors stand to make big money.

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