IFPMA defends human clinical trials

Harvey Bale, the Director of the Geneva, Switzerland-headquartered International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, offered a vigorous defense of human participation in clinical trials, following the accident at Northwick Park Hospital in London, UK, last week.

Dr Bale told the Swiss newspaper Le Temps: "it is necessary to test the drug on a human being at some point. It all is a question of balancing the risk and benefit. The procedures are closely supervised by the legal authorities, but the zero-risk procedure does not exist."