Nearly 10 lakh new cancer cases are detected in India every
year! Can you imagine this huge number!? And, most of the cases are those of
breast cancer in women. This is why medical science is always on the course of
finding newer and better treatments and therapies for such patients. And for
this, clinical trials are important. As clinical trials become important, the
requirement of more and more patients also becomes important.
Why do Indian
patients undergo cancer clinical trials?
60% of cancer patients in India agree to undergo clinical
trials only because the treatment is free. Without considering whether it is
safe or effective, they just jump into it. Although clinical trials are
conducted with every care and consideration for the patient in mind, the above
stated mentality is just very wrong. One mustn’t undergo a clinical trial only
with the thought of getting free treatment; instead, they must do so to help
medical science find a solution that can benefit them as well as other
suffering cancer patients.
Study interviewing
cancer patients
A study titled “Quality of informed consent in cancer
clinical trials in India: A cross-sectional survey” was conducted by the Tata
Memorial Centre in Mumbai, and Public Health Research Centre in New York. This
study was based on interviews of around 200 cancer patients, which revealed
that 74% of the patients selflessly claimed to undergo participation in
clinical trials; however, one reason behind such participation is also the
benefit that they gain from it. With a meager 15% of patients being covered by
health insurance, free treatment is definitely an influential incentive.
The patients who were interviewed had undergone 1, 2, or 3
interventional studies of surgical, pharmacological, or radiation therapy,
which were sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry, or initiated by
investigators. Hence, the basic theory of “no inducement” adopted by good
clinical practical guidelines is challenged, even by the lawful practice of
providing free treatment on trials!
How much do patients
trust the cancer clinical trials?
Another reason that has been identified for patients to
undergo clinical trials is their faith in their oncologist. Vikram Gota, the
pharmacologist at Tata Memorial Centre and a lead researcher, has confirmed
this by saying, “The hope of better care and the belief that the new drug would
be better than the existing treatment were the major factors driving patients
to participate in a cancer clinical trial.”
No matter what the reason, more and more patients are
looking forward to undergo clinical trials; whether it is to benefit themselves
or to selflessly help every cancer patient in the country. After all, cancer is a silent killer!
Thus, as a medical field professional, it is the job of clinical researchers
too to keep finding newer and better ways of providing treatments to such
patients.
If
you are interested in helping your countrymates to fight cancer and other such
conditions, you can also take up clinical research as your career. For this,
you can enroll yourself at a clinicalresearch virtual learning center Bangalore, like Avigna Clinical ResearchAcademy, where you can have access to a whole new range of learning
opportunities, using the latest technologies available in the market.
x
No comments:
Post a Comment