University Faculty Votes To Probe A Seroquel Study Suicide

In response to a call from dozens of leading academics in different countries, the University of Minnesota faculty senate late last week voted to conduct an inquiry into how the institution runs clinical trials involving human subjects. The 67-to-23 vote was described as a “rare victory” by one academic who has pushed for the university to investigate one controversial case that prompted sustained scrutiny of university practices and negative publicity. That case involved the 2004 death of Dan Markinson, a troubled 26-year old who committed suicide while participating in a clinical trial that was run by university researchers. The ensuing years have produced a lawsuit by his mother and probes that went nowhere amid charges of conflicts of interest and mismanagement at the school. A central issue was the extent to which Markingson's participation in the trial contributed to his suicide. The aftermath of the suicide and subsequent inability to rectify university oversight prompted 171 academics who specialize in bioethics, law, health sciences, public policy and medicine at universities in several countries to demand the university senate run a probe. They asked the school “to take the moral responsibility of a public institution seriously, and to explicitly endorse and request the establishment of a fully independent, transparent, and detailed inquiry” (here is the letter and the list of signatories). “A significant number of highly credible, fair-minded, prominent p...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs