In the Media: Hastings' Karen Maschke on Combatting Sham Stem Cell Studies
Officials are concerned that some for-profit stem cell clinics are listing questionable studies on ClinicalTrials.gov, a registry supported by the National Institutes of Health, to imply that NIH endorses the studies. Now, NIH says it is taking steps to improve its registry, including making more prominent disclaimers stating that a study's listing doesn’t mean government endorsement. In an interview in Bloomberg Law, Hastings Center research scholar Karen Maschke said more rigorous standards for posting studies to the registry should be considered. Maschke, who is coauthor of a recent book on evidence and medical technologies, including stem cell treatments, said one solution might be to require posting a study's protocol, including the purpose, research methods, and other details. “Everybody who’s anybody in this world of science and clinical trials knows what a good protocol looks like,” she said. Read the Bloomberg Law article.
|
