Public podium discussion on clinical research in vulnerable populations in Berlin

Press Release (German/PDF)

On 25 October a public podium discussion on clinical research in vulnerable populations took place at the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (BBAW) in Berlin. The event was jointly organized by the Europäische Akademie and the BBAW who also collaborate in a project group on this topic. Professor Stock, President of the BBAW, discussed current problems and possible solutions with Professor Hanfried Helmchen (Freie Universität Berlin), Heike von Lützau-Hohlbein (Deutsche Alzheimer Gesellschaft e.V.) and Dr. Laila Narouz-Ott (Bayer HealthCare) and the audience. Many individuals from vulnerable populations such as children, mentally ill, or critically ill patients, cannot give consent to clinical research or can do so only to a limited degree. In the past, difficulties in achieving informed consent in vulnerable populations and the high level of protection required for them often resulted in disproportionally less clinical research for vulnerable populations than for the majority of patients with non-limited capacity to consent. A solution could be achieved by increasing the number of vulnerable populations in research projects by a careful and responsible evolution of existing frameworks in order to let them benefit from medical progress more than has been the case so far.