Join Dr. Carl Elliott, a professor in the Center for Bioethics and the Departments of Pediatrics and Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, for the discussion, An Atypical Suicide? The Clinical Trial as Pharmaceutical Marketing Tool. This is the third installment of The UC Hastings Lecture Series on Bioethics, sponsored by The Lawrence M. Nagin '65 Faculty Enrichment Fund.

When a young man committed suicide in an industry-sponsored clinical trial of atypical antipsychotic drugs at the University of Minnesota in 2004, critics charged that he had been coerced into the study. They may be right, but the ethical problem is even larger. Today pharmaceutical companies are designing and analyzing clinical trials not to produce reliable scientific data, but to ensure that their own drugs look superior to the competition. These trials are published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and distributed by drug reps as a way of marketing the drugs. Which raises the question—when is it ethically justified to enroll human subjects in marketing studies?

The event is open to the public and free to attend. Sponsored by the Lawrence M. Nagin '65 Faculty Enrichment Fund and co-sponsored by the UCSF Center for Health and Community and the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science, and Health Policy.

This talk is part of The UC Hastings Lecture Series on Bioethics, sponsored by The Lawrence M. Nagin '65 Faculty Enrichment Fund. The four-part series features nationally acclaimed experts who will discuss cutting-edge issues in bioethics, their legal significance, and their impact on various communities. 

Questions? Contact Professor Osagie Obasogie at obasogie@uchastings.edu.