Wellcome Trust Response To Nuffield Council Report

, The Ethics Of Research Related To Healthcare In Developing Countries

25 April 2002

In response to the report, The Ethics of Research Related to Healthcare in Developing Countries, published on April 25, by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Dr Mike Dexter, Director of the Wellcome Trust biomedical research charity, said the report raised an extremely important topic. While highlighting the complex issues around the subject it appeared to be "an excellent blend of promoting best practise while recognising the practicalities of carrying out research in developing countries.

"We fully support the principles which provide the framework for this extensive report - the duty to alleviate suffering, show respect for people, to be sensitive to cultural differences and not to exploit the vulnerable.

"We have funded international research across a broad spectrum, from clinical trials to demographic surveillance, for more than 50 years. All of this work goes before local ethical review committees and must be beneficial to the people of the country in which the research is being carried out.

"Ethics is a vital area which is why we have decided to invest £4m over the next five years to look at issues arising from conducting biomedical research in developing countries as well as supporting a number of international initiatives.

"We look forward to studying the report in depth to see what implications there might be for the Trust and our funded researchers."

Notes to Editors:
The Wellcome Trust, which contributed to the report, currently supports major clinical or community-based research programmes in Kenya, Thailand, Vietnam, South Africa and Malawi. Last year it spent more than £70m on its international programmes which supports individual researchers in more than 40 countries.

The Wellcome Trust is an independent, research-funding charity, established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome in 1936. The Trust's mission is to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health. Media contacts:
Barry Gardner/Shaun Griffin
Wellcome Trust Media Office
Tel: +44 (0)20 7611 7382
E-mail: b.gardner@wellcome.ac.uk; s.griffin@wellcome.ac.uk