My Clinical Trials Diary

Now, all human clinical trials to be registered 15 Jun 2009, 0429 hrs IST BANGALORE: In a significant move aimed at making clinical trials on human beings more ethical and transparent, the Drugs Controller of India has ruled for the first time that all clinical trials taking place across the country in all areas of health - new drugs, treatments, therapies, surgical procedures and new medical devices - must be compulsorily registered. The rule will come into effect on Monday. Simply put, clinical trials and research conducted on human beings can now be accessed by the general public too. Hitherto, research institutions and companies obtained permission from the regulatory authorities and registration of the trials was voluntary. Now, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has asked the Indian Council of Medical Research to ensure that while granting permission for clinical trials, the applicants are advised to get the trial registered before initiation of the study. The new rule

Give Blood Pressure Drugs to All News Author: Fran Lowry  CME Author: Désirée Lie, MD, MSEd May 28, 2009 — Blood-pressure-lowering drugs should be offered to everyone, regardless of their blood pressure level, as a safeguard against coronary heart disease and stroke, researchers who conducted a meta-analysis of 147 randomized trials (comprising 958,000 people) conclude in the May 19 issue of BMJ [1]. "Guidelines on the use of blood-pressure-lowering drugs can be simplified so that drugs are offered to people with all levels of blood pressure," write Drs Malcolm R Law and Nicholas Wald (Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, UK). "Our results indicate the importance of lowering blood pressure in everyone over a certain age, rather than measuring it in everyone and treating it in some." "Whatever your blood pressure, you benefit from lowering it furthe