Medical Experimentation

Medical Experimentation
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The Tuskegee study played a significant role in the establishment of institutional regulations to oversee human medical experimentation in the US. The research involved studying untreated syphilis cases of African American males that had no access to treatment. Advocates of the treatment intended to use the results of the study to lobby for legislative approval for treatment programs for Southern blacks. Denying treatment for a disease with life threatening impact on health was not justifiable. The study followed the ailing males keenly and performed autopsies upon their death (Jones, n.d).
The ailing men received iron tonic and pink tablets or aspirin as incentives and the families that allowed autopsies got access to burial stipends when the subjects died. Subjects also received a certificate and one dollar for every year they remained in the study as a token of appreciation. The study provoked sharp opposition from antiracism groups. The study did not have a specific time frame and the discovery that the study purposed to follow each person to their death drew even sharper public outrage and led to the eventual end of the experiment. The experiment violated the principles of ethical treatment of human subjects (Jones, n.d).
Medical research is imperative for physicians and pharmaceutical markets register increased demand for human subjects for drug testing. Many clinical trials occur in geographical areas with rampant healthcare crises and economic and political instability. In the US, regulatory measures require that large numbers of patients participate in clinical trials to prove the products’ long-term safety. Researchers have increasingly channeled testing to developing countries through international outsourcing companies also known as Contract Research Organizations (CROs). The companies are expansive in the third world and the Eastern Europe. They implement research design and analyses and recruit patients more effectively and cost effectively than medical centers (Petryana, 2005).
Recent medical experimentation is marred by competition particularly for hypertension. Currently, many American companies are experimenting AIDS drugs in Africa and other Third world countries. The Genasense technology medical experimentation required sourcing for many participants in a bid to generate statically relevant results. It consisted of genetic snippets intended to reduce harmful proteins amongst skin cancer patients. In the 1970s, there was rampant use of prisoners in drug testing (Reiter, 2009). Ninety percent of licensed drugs were tested on prisoners prior to effecting a ban on the practice. In 1996, trials in Nigeria for Pfizer’s Trovan medication was halted when the antibiotics was verified to have damaging effects on the liver (Petryana, 2005).
Patients that participate in trials receive special guidelines developed through a carefully designed trial plan. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides technical assistance to the researchers to ensure efficiency and reduce the risk for participants. Research occurs in various phases and each phase develops safety data and refines research methods to be used in future trials. Phasing is imperative in risk ...