Conflict of Interest in Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are medical studies or researches which study the effectiveness of tests and treatments. Physicians conduct these studies to track diseases, the efficacy of drugs, alternative drugs among other clinical tests. Undoubtedly, a conflict of interest emerges when physicians enroll patients in a clinical trial in which they are principal investigators.
The medicine sector experiences a lot of clinical trials to support its research by evidence. However, Lader et al (2014) affirms that unethical issues arise due to several factors leading to a conflict of interest when enrolling patients. Such conflict may occur due to limited financial incentives provided by a health institution (Federman et al, 2015). In this case, the principal investigators may enroll patients who do not meet the entry criteria for their financial gains; thus, inefficient data collection.
Moreover, during clinical trials physicians violate the patient’s rights when choosing treatment arms of the trial. Since it is a medical trial only the patients who consent to the tests should be considered (Lysaught et al, 2015). However, some principal investigators believe that they are certain in choosing the arm of treatment which is more effective (Lader et al, 2014). These individual beliefs violate the state of equipoise in enrolling patients since the trials are based on uncertainty.
Consequently, another conflict of interests arises when individuals who benefit directly from a clinical trial are exempted from recruitment of patients as well as the consent phase of the research (Federman et al, 2015). However, principal investigators with special interests in the clinical trials interfere with the selection of the patients. Additionally, some of the physicians use placebo arms, which endanger the patients, even if a standard treatment procedure exists (Lysaught et al, 2015).
In conclusion, ethical considerations in performing clinical trials ought to be adhered by the physicians. The responsible management of conducting clinical trials should ensure that the physicians who have interests in the trials are restricted from any involvement to avoid interference of selecting the patients.