When clinical trials try to charge patients

The mainstream research community has long been wary of clinical trials that ask patients to foot the bill. Now, there's a perception that these studies, which charge four- to six-figure fees, may be on the rise — and they've caught the attention of the FDA and NIH.

A federal advisory panel is now drafting recommendations to help institutional review boards, researchers, and patients think about such studies. As STAT's Rebecca Robbins reports, they're trying to strike a balance between protecting patients and the integrity of research — while not ruling out the possibility that such studies could be valuable in some circumstances.

But that comes with its own risks. “If you open the door to these trials, you inevitably are going to get … exploitative trials, and bad trials, and trials that don’t lead to any useful information,” said Dr. Steven Joffe, a pediatric oncologist and bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania.

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