The Supreme Court on Monday termed as unfortunate the alleged incidents of ‘illegal' clinical trial of drugs and vaccines in the country and urged the Government to take corrective measures.
This followed a public interest litigation by a group of doctors alleging that illegal and unethical clinical trials are being carried out on the poor including children and the mentally ill, sometimes even leading to “deaths.”
Clinical trials are done to ensure that such vaccines, drugs and devices are safe and effective during their use. The litigation alleged that these people are being made guinea pigs in these clinical trials of vaccines and drugs made by some multinational corporations. It added that these incidents of illegal clinical trials are happening in India due to the poor implementation of laws.
The court directed the Centre and the Medical Council of India to submit their reply to the litigation in six weeks. The matter will be heard again on July 13.
The court, however, declined to allow Indian Society for Clinical Research to be a party to the case for the time being and instead wanted the body to prove its bona fides.