Inserm ethics head: clinical trials regulations need urgent update

Consent is crucial and should not be dismissed as “pointless paperwork”, says Philippe Amiel

Rules governing clinical trials in medical experiments need to be updated to place a greater emphasis on consent, a leading French ethicist has said. 

Writing in the French daily Le Monde, Philippe Amiel, a lawyer and president of the College of Ethics at Inserm, France’s national institute of health and medical research, said that while it is widely recognised that medical research and treatment are distinct, human subjects should be better informed.