Amit Sengupta, Anjali Shenoi, N. B. Sarojini, Y. Madhavi | The Lancet | Volume 377, No. 9767, 26 February 2011
Heidi Larson and colleagues in their Comment, and Mark Feinberg of Merck in his response, call for more effective ways to engage with public advocates who question new health interventions, or studies, particularly for diseases that affect developing countries. We disagree with Larson and Feinberg about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine’s public health value and would like to reiterate the importance of transparency in research. We are dismayed by its absence in the Indian HPV projects, particularly after two of us (AS, NBS) found evidence of gross ethical violations on a visit to the project site in Bhadrachalam, Andhra Pradesh (report available from the authors).