Letter to my senior teachers about Clinical Drug Trials

Respected Sir, I am writing this letter with a deep sense of responsibility and sincerity. It refers to the issue of clinical drug trials at Indore, M.P.. You might have come across many reports in media about alleged irregularities in conduct of drug trials at M.G.M. Medical College & M.Y. Hospital, Indore. Myself and my 5 colleague faculty members have been victim of a totally baseless, malicious slender campaign by one Dr. Anand Rai along with a few so called NGOs, politicians and media personelles. A perception has been created as if doing drug trials is an evil activity, indulged in only locally by a few named doctors. The truth is that all the trials in which we participated were multinational, multi centre trials at prestigious institutions. We are proud of being associated with many good trials1, contributing in a small but tangible way for advancement of medical science and betterment of human condition. I want to assure you that I have not done anything wrong legally, ethically or morally. I have never done and will never do anything unbecoming of your student. One may doubt how anybody can vouch for integrity of others, but I do so for my colleagues too, as we been through it together for last two years. I apolise and beg to be pardoned for shades of bitterness in my letter but it has been a long, unfinished ordeal with lot of anguish, bewilderment, harassment, sadness and frustration. It has consumed hundreds of hours of our time which could have used for better things and purposes. Our image and prestige, which had been painstakingly built over many decades has been dented and tarnished. I am very much aware of the merits and demerits of public versus industry sponsored clinical trials2 but that pertains to policy and ideology and not so much at individual level. Please excuse me for an unsolicited long letter but I do need that you understand the issue and give me moral support and blessings. You may kindly write about this issue in NMJI and IJME. Thanking you, Sincerely yours