Ethical Guidelines for Conducting Research Studies Involving Human Subjects
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Bangladesh Medical Research Council Ethical Guidelines for Conducting Research Studies Involving Human Subjects CONTENTS SECTION – A 01. Ethical perspective of BMRC 1 1.1 Role of BMRC 1 1.2 Objectives of the ethical approval 3 1.3 Research requires ethical approval 3 1.4 Background 3 1.5 Definition of Ethics 4 1.6 General Ethical Principles 5 1.7 Important Issues in Ethical Consideration 5 1.8 Vulnerable population 02. International Guidelines on Ethics in Health Research 6 03. Issues in Ethical Clearance 7 3.1 Informed Consent 7 3.2. Confidentiality 10 3.3 Inducement 11 3.4 Compensation 04. Scientific Misconduct 12 05. Participants like Pregnant / Nursing women and Children 14 06. Post Trial Access 16 07. International collaboration / assistance in Biomedical / Health Research 16 08. Researcher’s relation with media and publication 18 09. Guideline on Research Ethics as per national health research strategies 19 SECTION – B 10. Interventional Studies 21 10.1. Drug Trial 22 10.1.1 Special Considerations 22 10.1.2. Phases of Clinical Trials 24 10.1.3. Special studies 26 10.1.4. Dissolution Studies 26 10.1.5. Special Concerns 27 10.1.5.1. Multicenter Trials 27 10.1.5.2. Contraceptives 28 10.1.5.3. Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) 28 10.2. Vaccine Trials 30 10.2.1. Combination Vaccines 31 10.2.2. Special Concerns 32 10.3. Trials with Surgical Procedures/Medical Devices 33 10.3.1. Definition of Device 34 10.4. Diagnostic Agents- Use of Radio-Active Materials and X-Ray 35 10.5. Traditional Ayurveda, Unani (AU) Remedies and Medicinal Plants 36 10.5.1. Special Concerns 38 10.5.2. Classification of Herbal medicines 39 10.5.3. Quality Control 43 11. Principles of Epidemiological Studies 44 11.1 Introduction 44 11.2. Definitions 44 11.3. General Principles 45 11.4. Specific Principles 46 11.5. Community Participation 48 12. Tissue Transplantation and Related Subjects 49 12.1. Ethical Guidelines of Transplantation Research 51 12.1.1. Organ and tissue Transplantation 49 12.2. Guideline for Steam Cell Research 51 12.3. Human fetal tissue transplantation 52 12.4. Xeno Transplantation 53 13. Human Genetic and Genomic Research 54 13.1. Areas of Concern 54 13.2. General Ethical Guideline 56 13.3. Basic Responsibilities of all Researchers 57 13.4. Responsibilities of Directors/Heads of Research Institutions 58 13.5. Duties of Principal Investigator 60 13.6. Matters to be included 62 13.7. Human Genome/Gene analysis, Genetic screening and diagnosis 64 13.7.1. Prenatal Diagnosis 64 13.8. Gene Therapy 67 13.8.1. Basic requirement of a proposal for gene therapy 68 13.8.2 Supervision of gene therapy 69 13.9. Stem Cell Research 70 13.9.1. Guidelines for Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Research 71 13.9.2. Research that restricted with the Guidelines 72 13.10. Bio-Bank 74 13.10.1. Repository Collections 74 13.10.2. Use of research samples 75 13.10.3. Bio-Bank ethical issues 78 14. Bibliography 81 15. Annexure- A 83 Annexure-B 86 16. List of Members for Formulation of Ethical Guidelines Committee 88 SECTION – A 01. ETHICAL PURSPECTIVE OF BMRC Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) was established in 1972 by the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as an Autonomous Body under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOH&FW). As per resolution of the Government, BMRC is the focal point for Health Research. The objectives of BMRC are to identify problems and issues relating to medical and health sciences and to determine priority areas in research on the basis of health care needs, goals, policies and objectives. BMRC organize and promote scientific research in various fields of medicine, public health, reproductive health and nutrition with specific references to primary health care needs for the application and utilization of the results of health research. Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) is the Secretariat for the National Research Ethics Committee (NREC). According to BMRC Policy each and every Project Proposal approved by the Scientific Review Committee must get ethical approval before funding. Scientific validity should be approved by a valid Scientific Review Committee before submission of a research project to NREC. BMRC has National Research Ethics Committee (NREC) for Ethical Clearance of research works. The Ethics Review Committee of BMRC was established in 1979. The Committee consists of 9-13 Members (Lawyer, Female Representative, Religious Leader, are included as Member). The Committee is formed by the Council under Guidelines for formation of Ethics Review Committee for “tenure of 3 Years. The Committee is registered in OHRP as an official IRB (lRB No. 0001494) and has FWA (#00006444). The Committee has given ethical approvals to investigators of numerous International Agencies and academic Institutions (e.g. WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Cambridge Universities, Intl. NGOs etc.) 1.1 Role of BMRC: As per National Research Strategy (Memo No: MOHFW/ Hospital -2 / Misc-16/07/06, date: 05 January, 2009) the followings are the Role of BMRC on ethical issues. 1. Co-ordinate health research by liaising with all research stakeholders. 2. BMRC will assist the government in the development of health research priorities. BMRC ETHICAL GUIDELINE ON HUMAN SUBJECTS Page 1 3. Review of preliminary and final research reports and give advice on strategic implications of completed research projects and send review reports to the Directorate General of Health Services and Directorate General of Family Planning. 4. Provide advice on all health research related matters to government departments and international agencies. 5. Facilitate co-ordination among the organizations and institutions at various levels so that the health research strategy operates in a coherent manner rather than a collection of fragmented and uncoordinated activities. 6. Any health research to be conducted in Bangladesh has to be registered with BMRC as a pre-requisite for any funding (national or international). 7. BMRC would advise Government on the gaps, synergies and overlaps that exist as well as on the appropriateness of the research work, its budget, achievements and emphases. 8. The National Research Ethics Committee-NREC (functioning under the BMRC & previously named as Ethical Review Committee), should set standards, advise the Departments and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the management of research ethics for Bangladesh and arbitrate on the matters of ethics. 9. The NREC will be responsible to review all clinical trials of both non-registered medicinal substances in Bangladesh and new indications of already registered medicinal substances. 10. The NREC will advice the Drug Administration in ensuring that the drugs available in the country fulfill the necessary requirements for safety, quality and efficacy and that the decision to register a drug is in the interests of public health. 11. Research issues having religious or social sensitivity should be approved by NREC. 12. International collaborative research involving Bangladeshi population will have to get ethical approval by the NREC, while the administrative approval shall be given by the Government. 13. BMRC will sponsor and co-ordinate multicentric commissioned research on areas of national importance. 14. Establishment and further strengthening of BMRC sponsored research institutions and centers for conducting research studies on national priority research areas. BMRC ETHICAL GUIDELINE ON HUMAN SUBJECTS Page 2 15. BMRC will take initiative to enhance its in-house human capacity, create appropriate physical facilities & logistics and strengthen linkages with all stakeholders involved in health research. 1.2. Objectives of the ethical approval: As part of good research governance, research requires ethical approval. a. To safeguarding the dignity, rights, safety and well being of all potential research participants. b. To protect the rights of a researcher to carry out legitimate investigation, as well as the reputation of the institution. c. To minimize potential for claims of negligence made against the researchers, the institution concerned and any collaborating individual or organization. d. To require evidence of ethical approval in refereed journals. e. To influence the research design with ethical consideration. f. To avoid potential problems letter on, by trail to ensure that the main ethical issues are address before the research starts 1.3. Research requires ethical approval if it involves: a) Human participants (including of observation or questionnaires). b) Accessing personnel, sensitive of confidential data. 1.4. Background: Ethical Issues in Health Research is becoming more and more important now-a-days. Several international documents are available in this area. But due to cultural and socioeconomic diversity these international guidelines need to be adopted by specific country. The World Health Organization developed Operational Guidelines for Ethics Committees that Review Biomedical Research in 2000. Many countries have developed their own Ethical Guidelines for example in India, the Indian Council for Medical Research (lCMR) has developed "Policy Statement on Ethical Considerations Involved in Research on Human Subjects” in 1980. This document was modified and published in 2000 as Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research on Human subjects, this document further updated in 2006. Similarly Nepal health Research Council (NHRC) has recently developed their own Guidelines “Nepal Health Research Council Ethical Guideline” which was adopted in 1995 and revised in 2001, Sri Lanka developed national Ethics Review Committee Guidelines in 2007. Other BMRC ETHICAL GUIDELINE ON HUMAN SUBJECTS Page 3 neighboring countries have also formulated Ethical Guidelines or putting their efforts in development of Ethical Guidelines. Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) updated the Guideline in 2009. However in 2013 it has been felt that it needs further updating. Present Guideline was formulated after deliberations by groups of experts in different fields. 1.5. Definition of Ethics The word "ethics" is derived from the Greek word "ethicos".