19/09/03

Delayed decision on Helsinki declaration

By: Stephen Pincock

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Delayed decision on Helsinki declaration</h1>
<h4>By: Stephen Pincock</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><P>The World Medical Association (WMA) wrapped its annual assembly last week without deciding whether to make controversial changes to the part of the Declaration of Helsinki that deals with the obligation to continue treating clinical trial participants after a study is over.</P><br />
<P>The WMA had been considering whether to modify or clarify paragraph 30 of the declaration —  which says that at the end of a study every patient should be assured of access to the best proved treatments identified by the study. Some have claimed that such a change would weaken the document and leave patients in developing countries at risk.</P><br />
<P>Discussions at the conference centred on a report from a working group set up to look at the issue in detail. But it was deemed necessary to continue discussions, with the WMA’s secretary general, Delon Human, saying it would be unwise to revise the declaration “prematurely”.</P><br />
<P><a href="http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7416/642-e" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to full <em>BMJ</em> article</A></P><br />
<P>Reference: BMJ 327, 642 (2003)</P></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/delayed-decision-on-helsinki-declaration/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/delayed-decision-on-helsinki-declaration/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

The World Medical Association (WMA) wrapped its annual assembly last week without deciding whether to make controversial changes to the part of the Declaration of Helsinki that deals with the obligation to continue treating clinical trial participants after a study is over.

The WMA had been considering whether to modify or clarify paragraph 30 of the declaration — which says that at the end of a study every patient should be assured of access to the best proved treatments identified by the study. Some have claimed that such a change would weaken the document and leave patients in developing countries at risk.

Discussions at the conference centred on a report from a working group set up to look at the issue in detail. But it was deemed necessary to continue discussions, with the WMA’s secretary general, Delon Human, saying it would be unwise to revise the declaration “prematurely”.

Link to full BMJ article

Reference: BMJ 327, 642 (2003)