Major research groups urge US government to support WHO clinical trial resolution

A coalition of major American medical research groups has urged the US government to support a draft World Health Assembly resolution that sets out to strengthen clinical trial protocols, coordination, and data sharing, and bolster clinical trial capacity in low- and middle-income countries.

The Global Health Technologies Coalition issued the following statement:

"This resolution on strengthening clinical trials to improve public health is a strong first step, taking concrete action to facilitate investment in high-quality clinical trials, adopt robust clinical trial standards in routine practice to expedite the development of effective health care interventions, and develop the governance infrastructure to support enhanced collaboration and coordination between nations."

The Global Health Technologies Coalition's membership includes many heavy hitters:

• Gates Foundation

• CEPI

• DNDi

• Medicines for Malaria Venture

• FIND

• PATH

• TB Alliance

• Treatment Action Group

A key aim of the proposal is to curb medical research waste, improve clinical trial transparency, and speed up the discovery of new treatments.

A report published today by Health Action International and TranspariMED notes that rampant research waste during the Covid pandemic has alerted policy makers worldwide to the need to fix long-standing dysfunctionalities in the global medical research ecosystem.

The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of the WHO. Delegations from all WHO Member States meets meet annually to determine the WHO policies, appoint the WHO Director-General, and review and approve the WHO's proposed programme budget.

The Assembly will next meet in Geneva during 22-28 May 2022 for WHA75. Government delegates will decide whether to formally adopt the clinical trials proposal, which has been jointly tabled by the UK and Argentina. This is likely to involve negotiations during which successive drafts are amended until a broad consensus about the scope and content of the proposed measures has been reached.