Synexus supports ‘call to end exclusion of elderly from drug trials’
Trial results from younger people cannot always be extrapolated to the elderly, say the authors. They want older people to have access to drugs which have been shown to be safe and effective for their age group. PREDICT set out assess the extent to which the elderly were excluded from clinical trials and to come up with solutions.
Synexus' Chief Executive, Michael Fort responded to the announcement by the EU funded project, PREDICT, that elderly people are excluded or under represented in clinical trials by saying that his company has been aware of the problem in both the UK and further afield in Europe for some considerable time and has been addressing the problem by looking at ways to communicate more effectively with the elderly to ensure that they are aware of the opportunities to join clinical trials and that their primary healthcare specialists are also kept informed of forthcoming trials. They also provide home visits and transport for those people who find it difficult to reach their dedicated research centres both here in the UK and overseas.
"I agree entirely that we must ensure our clinical trials volunteers are not excluded on the grounds of age. In some of the recent trials we have carried out, in the cardiology, diabetes and osteoarthritis fields for example, the majority of our patients were well over 65 with many in their late seventies and early eighties. We work closely with GP practices and other healthcare experts to make sure we are getting our messages across in the right way for the older age groups, and that our information is easily accessible to them. Our full-time clinical trials investigators are trained to deal patiently and carefully with everyone joining a trial and that includes the elderly who might sometimes feel more worried and vulnerable about the process they are being encouraged to join than the younger generations."
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