Mistrust in medical research: a patient perspective
The recent development of several COVID-19 vaccines has placed medical research firmly in the spotlight, highlighting public confusion and misinformation about clinical trials. Patient advocate, Trishna Bharadia reveals what the life sciences industry can do to rebuild trust.
In medical research, trust has traditionally been hard-fought for. Terms like “lab rats” and “guinea pigs” are often used in conversations about clinical trials. For some communities, the historic unethical treatment of participants is also still a raw memory
[1]. People tend to remember when things go wrong, and this casts doubt over procedures and leads to questions about whether we can really trust industry, scientists, and researchers.
What s True
Thalidomide was a “miracle drug” commonly prescribed in the 1950s to treat an assortment of ailments, including nausea in pregnant women. The therapeutic was not rigorously tested in large human populations and was pulled from the market less than a decade after its introduction because it caused malformations in newborns. What s False
Thalidomide was not “rapidly approved” using comparable approval requirements necessary in 2020 for the COVID-19 vaccine. Furthermore, thalidomide is not a vaccine, and does not provide a possible case study for long-term safety and efficacy concerns related to the two-dose coronavirus immunization.
Origin
fighting an “infodemic” of rumors and misinformation, and you can help.