A national seminar on Access to Medicines and Compensation for Clinical Trial Injuries was held in New Delhi on 14 April 2016 at the India International Centre. The objective of the seminar was to share the findings from Sama’s research studies on Access to Medicines and Compensation for Clinical Trial injuries. The seminar was attended by over 40 participants and had representation from the policy level, research institutions, academics, patient support groups, civil society organisations, pharmaceutical sector, ethics committees, etc. It served as a platform for bringing the different stakeholders together for discussing two important aspects related to clinical trials sector-access to medicines and compensation for CT injuries.
The emphasis of the morning panel was on issues pertinent to India regarding access to medicines for which trials have been conducted in India and the contemporary scenario of accessibility, pricing and patenting of medicines. In addition to the study findings, the morning panel had experts talking on themes like data exclusivity, compulsory licensing in the Indian scenario.
The afternoon panel focused on the findings from the exploratory research on the compensation mechanism for clinical trial injuries across seven countries. Presentations from CDSCO and representatives from the Ethics Committee and pharmaceutical sector helped bringing in multiple perspectives regarding operationalisation and challenges involved in implementing the compensatory mechanism.