gibreel ferishta
Bangalore:The death of 49 babies in clinical trials at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi may have opened a Pandora's box as two of the trial drugs have never been tried on patients below 18 years, an expert said.
How many of the children died because of the trial drugs will be known only when an enquiry committee submits its report this month, but doctors have already raised questions of ethics.
In reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query, the AIIMS said that 49 babies had died during clinical trials over the past two-and-a-half years.
The AIIMS paediatrics department conducted 42 sets of trials on 4,142 babies - 2,728 of them below the age of one - since Jan 1, 2006.
Two of the trial drugs - olmesartan and valsartan, meant for reducing blood pressure - have never been tried on patients below the age of 18 years, said Chandra M. Gulhati, editor of the Monthly Index of Medical Specialties and a keen obserger of the clinical trials in India.
clinical-trials india AIIMS drugs pharma pharmaceuticals
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