It is laudable that the Federal Government has enrolled the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto states in the “solidarity trials,” being organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners, for a cure for coronavirus. More than 100 countries have joined the solidarity trials with over 1,200 patients picked randomly from five countries to evaluate the safety and efficacy of full drug and drug combinations.
WHO had earlier announced Nigeria’s readiness to join the global solidarity trials. The Officer in Charge of the Organisation in Nigeria, Fiona Braka, who made the disclosure, added that 89 vaccines were being developed globally, including seven in clinical evaluation and several therapeutics in clinical trials to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the disease outbreak in China in 2019 and its spread to many countries, the world’s healthcare system and economy have been overwhelmed. Not even the advanced countries have been spared its catastrophic consequences. In the absence of any cure for the disease, experts are working to find effective remedy for the ailment. The WHO solidarity trial is part of these efforts. It is hoped that the exercise may lead to finding a cure for the pandemic.
We welcome the exercise. No doubt, clinical trials are mandatory for the development and licensing of drugs for human consumption. Therefore, the importance of clinical trials cannot therefore be over-emphasised.
Diligence and transparency should be the watchwords in the trials. Those in charge of the solidarity trials must ensure that the established procedures for clinical trials are strictly followed. The participants in the trials must be clearly briefed on what are involved and possible risks. They should be healthy and must have given their consent for the exercise. The objective of the trial is to establish the safety and toxicity profile of the test drug. Selection of persons for the trial should also be carefully handled. We insist that the procedures should be followed to the letter to ensure the validity of the result. We urge for diligence in the conduct of the exercise to avoid the mistakes of past clinical trials.
The ugly experience of the 1996 Pfizer Trovan clinical trial on children with cerebro-spinal meningitis in Tudun Wada in Kano State should serve as a guide here. On account of the poor handling of the exercise, families of some of the children who participated in the trial alleged that it caused them deaths and injuries. Pfizer was accused of not obtaining informed consent before recruiting the participants for the trial. It was also accused of capitalising on the poor and desperation of the people. These infractions should be avoided in the current exercise.
Ensuring informed consent of the participants will require adequate education and awareness on the programme. Enough campaign on the trial will allay fears and insinuations that may come with it. Such measures will also encourage volunteers to participate fully.
Recent experiences had shown that vaccination programmes were frustrated in some parts of the country due to inadequate awareness and primordial sentiments. Efforts should be made to ensure that such ugly occurrences do not arise in the current trial. Given that the states slated for the trial are not essentially cosmopolitan, except FCT and Lagos, community and religious leaders must be involved in the awareness campaigns for effective results. The information can also be disseminated in local languages. Above all, participation in the trial should be voluntary. Everything should be put in place to ensure a hitch-free exercise.
We encourage Nigerians in the selected states to make themselves available for the trial. This is the only way effective drugs and vaccines for tackling COVID-19 pandemic can be developed and ascertained.