• Question: Do you consider how ethical a drug is before it is decided to be commercially used or not?

    Asked by Izzy to Zoe, Sarah, Elaine, David, Aaron on 13 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Sarah Ashwood

      Sarah Ashwood answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      I think it is very important for scientists to be morally aware of the ethics involved with drug synthesis.
      If commercialising a drug puts other people at risk – either due to how it is being made, or that the side-effects can be harmful, then it is unlikely it will be commercialised.
      You have to be aware of where the resources come from, and that any companies that are doing work are paid properly, and no resources are being taken from places where they are more necessary. And obviously you have to be careful about environmental impact. But I think this is the same in any profession.

      Although generally most of what we do uses resources that we have access too, and is to treat disease with the over-riding purpose of prolonging life or improving the quality of life.

    • Photo: David Foley

      David Foley answered on 16 Nov 2014:

      There are some interesting ethical questions regarding drug use, Izzy.

      For example, is it ethical to give a cancer drug to healthy volunteers as part of a Phase 1 (safety) trial? The answer is usually no, as most cancer drugs have (are are expected to have) serious side effects, its just that the cancer is more serious. So we usually test cancer drugs on cancer patients, even at the early stage.

      If a drug is clearly brilliant in clinical trails, it become unethical to prevent other patients not in the trial for getting access to the drug. This is called “fast-tracking” and one of the most famous examples were the first anti-virals to treat HIV infection.

      Finally here’s one for you: Given that it is not ethical to conduct drug trials on children (unless the disease only affects children and never adults), is it ethical to administer any drugs to children given they have not been tested in this population group and given the fact that their bodies are in a constant state of growth, development and hormonal flux?

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