Cruel and Unusual Medicine
Posted by Osagie K. Obasogie October 31, 2006
Biopolitical Times
Thought medical experiments on prisoners were a thing of the past? Think again. This week, a Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS) committee will begin considering a proposal put forth by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to relax restrictions on using prisoners as research subjects in clinical trials. Citing possible benefits to the prison population and the public, this influential panel of medical advisors recommends that federal regulators change current laws restricting prisoners’ participation in drug trials. The IOM study argues that clinical trials posing greater risks than what’s currently allowed should be permitted if an IRB thinks the expected benefits outweigh the harms. (Click here for the New York Times‘ coverage of this story)
What does this mean for biotechnology? Drug companies have been complaining for ages about the money and time required to get their next blockbuster approved. Much of this cost and delay results from trying to find people willing to enroll in clinical trials for drugs that (a) may not work (b) may make them sicker or (c) may be a placebo, whereby they would have forgone known treatments to essentially be a guinea pig. As biomedical researchers develop stem cell and gene therapies for clinical trials, they will undoubtedly face the same challenges. Having access to the over two million prisoners currently behind bars is a virtual goldmine for these companies, as they can lose upwards of $5 million each day their trials stagnate.
It’s not clear what the IOM panel exactly has in mind. But, to the extent that the DHHS committee chairman requesting this study is a geneticist, biomedicine’s interests are at the table. What is clear, however, is that given today’s prison conditions, it’s virtually impossible for inmates to give informed consent to participate in research when they aren’t even afforded privacy when using the bathroom. Certainly, vulnerable populations such as prisoners need stronger—not more permissive—regulations to ensure that past atrocities with prisoners as human subjects don’t repeat themselves.