Comments on: Trial Participants Don’t Care About Conflicts

By: BLOGSCAN - What Do Research Subjects Really Think About Investigators’ Conflicts of Interest | The Healthy Living

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 05:53:33 +0000

[...] Conflicts of Interest Email This Post On the PharmaLot blog, Ed Silverman posted about a new study that purported to show that research subjects don’t care about conflicts of [...]

By: Prescription Project » Blog Archive » The RxP Weekly Reader

Prescription Project » Blog Archive » The RxP Weekly Reader — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:48:23 +0000

[...] Over at Pharmalot, word of a study of nearly 300 clinical trial participants at George Mason University found that prospective participants were not swayed much by three different stated financial conflicts of interest disclosed by the trial researchers.Â The would-be guinea pigs were swayed a little more by the presence of a check. [...]

By: ol cranky

ol cranky — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:16:14 +0000

Dan and Lisa have hit the nail on the head. It’s the cash that counts most for healthy volunteers, especially college students living on ramen and cost cutter mac-n-cheese.

You may find similar results in patients with severe disease as well. A willingness to participate despite conflicts of interest in this population would just be indicative of their desire to find any treatment that would help them get better and, possibly, a belief that the physician’s personal stake in the treatment/manufacturer meant the physician has a lot faith in the treatment’s efficacy and safety.

I think there’s still a problem with mistrust of pharma and physicians among patients with mild to moderate disease states (especially minorities) otherwise recruitment for study subjects wouldn’t be any near as much an uphill battle. This is a population that has to really trust the PI and/or study coordinator to be willing to participate (providing the study stipend is not so high as to be coercive). This is also a population that has to weigh the risk of exacerbation of underlying disease during study participation.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 01:05:02 +0000

Stupid humans…

By: Lisa Van S

Lisa Van S — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:32:35 +0000

College students can easily be swayed when money is offered, especially if that student is poor.

By: James

James — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:25:14 +0000

Although not particularly relevant to the topic vis-a-vis pharma, let me just say:

Go Patriots!

James Culp
Proud Alumnus, George Mason University

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:17:38 +0000

As mentioned briefly and vaguely in this post, the study subjects, who are young, I presume, and students, understandably are apathetic about the consequences of any conflicts of interest. They possibly may not be able to, or rather choose not to with deliberate intent, take the effort and cognition to conceptulize the consequences of such conflicts due to the variables associated with them during such studies, and thier motivations. People have been known to do much worse for money and avoid analysis of what is asked of them due to the cash or other incentives associated with thier participation in such activities. In fact, it is my belief they will be rather successful in corporate life in the future, if thier stance continues as they progress in life.