Be ethical when researching drugs and treatments

 

From Moaz Nair

Let’s be responsive to the frauds that are inadvertently being done by some “researchers” with some unethical intentions who are studying drugs and treatments; they could cause incalculable physical harm to innocent people and tarnish the scientific realm.

Be it Ivermectin, a drug widely claimed by some to be effective in the treatment of Covid-19, or any other drugs for that matter, medical scientists and researchers have the conviction that evidence-based medicine has no alternative when it comes to the cure and treatment of patients.

But, more often than not, many do not realise that even “evidence-based medicine” can be a deception when irresponsible scientists are paid by sponsors to do research on drugs and treatments. This can happen in the present world because of business motives and the presence of some irresponsible researchers out there trying to seek fame.

Misconduct in scientific research can damage the integrity of science. One of the common means of misconduct – deception – happens by way of making up data or results (fabrication), changing or misreporting data or results.

When business motives override research ethics there will be conflicts of interest. This happens when a scientist tries to satisfy the clients or sponsors of a research effort.

Research frauds in many scientific disciplines are not uncommon. There have been public revelations of scientists being guilty of fabricating data, falsifying results, recycling the same findings, stealing ideas and plagiarism.

For instance, a medical fraud widely disclosed by the print media and the Internet involving a “pain-killer drug” that had been quoted by hundreds of doctors as “proof’ that it helped reduce pain during post-surgical recovery turned out to be based on fabricated evidence.

The researcher however confessed to his unethical conduct of having fabricated the data for his studies. This dishonest “research’ work of his was even published in a medical journal used as a reference by his medical peers. In fact, the researcher admitted to faking dozens of other “research” studies that were published in medical journals.

Apparently, the peer-reviewed medical journal was forced to retract 10 “scientific” papers authored by the researcher and another 21 articles written by the same researcher were also found to be fabricated and had to be retracted.

This is a case where the much-touted “evidence-based medicine” seemingly turned out to be a “fabricated-based medicine”. Just imagine the harm it could do to innocent people if this trend were to continue in scientific research. Is evidence-based medicine now in the path of becoming “non-evidence” based medicine?

The issue often discussed in scientific circles is that how many others could have conducted their “research” unethically? Are they doing genuine research? Are they fabricating evidence?

The scientific research enterprise, like anything else, should be built on a foundation of trust. Society trusts that the results of research reflect honest and laborious attempts by the scientist to describe a phenomenon accurately and without bias. The scientist, meanwhile, trusts that the results reported by other scientists are scientifically binding and valid.

In the eyes of the general public, scientists or researchers have a unique and critical mission to discover, to explain and to contribute to human welfare. To ensure scientific progress and maintain society’s confidence and support for science and research, it is therefore incumbent upon scientists to uphold the integrity and quality of scientific research.

Unfortunately, this may not be the case when their research is funded by sponsors who have some ulterior interest in the findings.

In recent years, challenges to the quality and integrity of scientific research have become increasingly evident. It is therefore inevitable that the scientific community devote themselves to exemplifying and transmitting the values associated with ethical scientific conduct. It must at all times ensure the highest standards of integrity in scientific research.

The object of research, invariably, is to extend human knowledge of the physical, biological or social world beyond what is already known for society. For that reason – along these lines of ethos – researchers have to be honest when it comes to scientific research.

Scientific research on drugs and treatments involves the discovering of truth, espousing thoughts and ideas, and generating tangible and consequential outcomes for the betterment of mankind. Accordingly, the methods involved must be truthful and meant to facilitate verification of further scientific observations.

Research must be meaningful, so that the findings are trustworthy. - FMT

Moaz Nair is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.