Large pharmaceutical companies have a need to test their new drugs on people, and what a better place to do that with minimal risk than in a highly populated country with little regulatory framework? That’s part of the reason Big Pharma companies have found India to be an excellent spot for testing their wares, using the poorest Indians as their guinea pigs for drug trials and killing many in the process.
Recently, the Supreme Court in India took a stand, calling on the government to justify its approval of the many clinical trials in that country. This came as a result of several organizations campaigning for tighter regulations and oversight on the trials.
“Clinical trials of NCEs are being conducted without following proper protocol, and companies are taking advantage of poor people,” explained Amulya Nidhi of the Health right Forum.
New chemical entities, or NCEs, are drugs that haven’t yet been approved for marketing and sale but are being tested in Phase II and Phase III clinical trials in India. Most of these drugs, incidentally, are from Big Pharma, huge western corporations.
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Between 2010 and 2012, 1542 deaths were reported in these clinical trials. Officials say only 54 could be definitively linked to the trials themselves, but either rate is too many.
So why has the Indian government allowed these corporations to come in and test on the poorest of their countrymen? As usual, it boils down to money.
The Indian clinical trial industry was valued at $450 million in 2010-11. It’s growing at an estimated 12% a year and predicted to pass $1 billion by 2016. The recent decision by the Indian Supreme Court, however, could derail its trajectory.
Nidhi, and others like her, say the loss Big Pharma may suffer as a result of the ruling and tighter regulations is inconsequential when balanced with the safety of Indians as a whole.
“We are concerned about and committed to the interests of people,” she said.
Better regulations could push Big Pharma trials right out of the country. A lack of such framework is what made these corporations so comfortable, perpetuating abuse by the “morally bankrupt pharmaceutical companies,” as Ethan A. Huff aptly characterizes them.
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We can hope the Indian government is persuaded by the growing number of activists there that such trials must be tightly controlled if they are to continue. Without better controls, the corporations will continue to treat the Indian people as throw-away laboratory experiments.
India is known as SUCKER nation for almost everything. Why? Cancer of Corruption, Leftism, Anglophiles lickers, India haters. Poverty is institutionalised in India. Indians, by and large, would not hesitate to sell their dying grandmother. Don’t get defensive or coy Indians. We read of hundreds of old people conveniently abandoned at your Melas. Not to mention India is today known, worldwide as RAPIST nation.
Didn’t treacherous, traitorous Indians follow Bill Gates like servile, groveling lemmings as he killed Indian children with his vaccines? Bill gates wants no less than a one and a half billion reduction in the world’s human population. He’s relying on vaccination. Killing kids and making them sterile nets him even more money than a web browsing monopoly. The West wants just 1 billion to populate earth: 1 million Elites and 900 million slaves. Indians are helping the mainly Western elites achieve the target.
ok, so with all the ‘facts’ you state where are the links to back up your statements. Who has said ‘they’ want 1 billion people? Why would you deny the Indian population the chance to eradicate such a devastating disease when it is one of the last countries left to get rid of it. You need to link an article to your statement that Bill Gates wants a 1 and a half billion reduction in the world population. The man wants to give away most of his fortune helping the world not destroying it, so what exactly are you doing to help the world and the humans and wildlife that inhabit it? I have not found one article stating that Indian children have died due to the polio vaccine which is administered by WHO and UNICEF and Rotary. The West believe in capitalism which can only be feed by growth, if you cut the population you cut growth–why do you think big companies are fighting global warming and are so worried by the thought of oil and coal being cut back, there are plenty of people who think the end of oil is the end of advanced civilisation as we know it, yet there are some amazing inventions going on and its highly unlikely the world will go backwards. China has just agreed to allow more two child families because the one child family policy have left them with a growing elderly population and not enough young people to support them. If any country wanted to just eradicate people than this is the country who would do it given their appalling human rights record, but they are embracing change and trying in their own way to pull their population out of poverty building 20 cities a year. Unfortunately, many of which sit empty as their people can’t afford to live in them. It’s true that some people are concerned and raising the alarm over the 7 billion population which will soon be 9 billion, but I have not read one article that suggests going back to 1 billion people as the earth was in 1900, even a major flu epidemic like the one in 1918 would not be able to wipe out that many people–there is nothing that could wipe out that many people except maybe nuclear war or uncontrolled global warming with massive methane release but the elite would have to take the risks with everyone else and I don’t believe it will happen. You do know why there are worries over the huge human population ==I’m guessing you do because your so well read , habitat destruction, increased pressure on resources, worries over water, soil, deforestation , the ability of the planet to feed everyone in the future, disposal of waste, decrease in fisheries. Right now it would only take 13 billion to solve the worlds food and sanitation problems–the cost of the perfume brought in one year in the USA and Europe. Over 4 million will die of starvation this year, one every 3.6 sec. Bill Gates Foundation helps farmers in poor countries increase their crops in a sustainable way–he is well aware of the huge numbers of people needing nutrition and sanitation, again what are you doing? When I checked his site there are so many areas where he is helping to make people’s lives better in partnership with other charities–he is not trying to kill people off but wants them to live longer and have better lives. Jeepers , I wrote all this out and didn’t provide any links but I’m sure you can google any of these points.
I don’t know why Bill Gates does what he does. I think his heart is probably in the right place. He genuinely cares. I don’t understand why he hasn’t seen the information that’s out there about what gmos are doing to the soil, the seeds, the other farmers’ crops across the road, the bees, the butterflies, the birds that pollinate (hummingbirds, etc.) the people that eat the gmo crops, which by the way, now include just about everything that is grown from a seed. What have I personally done for the world? Well, I spend about 5 hours of my day sending things around for people to take action on facebook, twitter and my email. I tell everyone I know about gmos and what they are doing to our world. My sources are sterling: Dr. Don Huber, Professor Emeritus, Purdue University for 35 years. Dr. Huber has actually asked the Dept. of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration and the EPA why they are not doing the studies on GE seeds or GMOs and they have no answers. How can they foist things on the world population that have not been studied and proven to be safe? Dr. Huber used to work for Monsanto! He is the co-author of three books and over 300 peer-reviewed published studies saying how wrong this is! Being a scientist, his language is sometimes a bit over our heads, but his points are proven and clear Over 800 scientists worldwide have come together to DEMAND that all GMOs and GE seeds everywhere be gathered and destroyed! What am I doing personally? Trying to get the word out about what a fraud Monsanto is perpetrating on the world, including the Gates Foundation. It just doesn’t seem possible that someone like Bill Gates would fall for this BS. The premise was good, of course, feed the world. Romantic, isn’t it? He just let others do his homework for him and is in too deep now to pull back perhaps. All the pesticide companies in the world are guilty as well of fouling our rivers, streams and now our oceans. All in the name of the almighty dollar. Shameful! Ungodly! Giving someone some heirloom seeds and a water source is all the world needs to do to save the poor starving people anywhere. Right now, Monsanto’s seeds are killing lots of poor Indian farmers and their lands. They have been given their seeds after the government declared them tainted and would not buy them. They GAVE them to the poor! How kind is that? Giving away poison!
Speakinn to the video, “Monsanto destroys our entire planet:” I know Monsanto is destroying the planet but why? I know that over 800 scientists from around the world have come together to demand that they destroy all gmo seeds and plants. But no one is listening, I guess, So, when Monsanto and the other pesticide companies have destroyed the planet, and they are very close to doing that now, what then? What’s the point? Why would they want a dead planet?