Roundtable on Clinical Trials and Access to Essential Medicines in African Countries
Oct. 29-30, 2015
The symposium was led by Diane Hoffmann, director of the Law & Health Care Program, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, along with Peter Danchin, director of the International and Comparative Law Program at Maryland Carey Law, and Leslie Meltzer Henry, a professor at Maryland Carey Law. The symposium was generously supported by the UMB Center for Global Education Initiatives, Alan and Nancy Eason, the Stuart Rome Lecture Fund, the Reuben Shiling Mental Health Law Fund, the Leonard C. Homer/Ober|Kaler Law and Health Care Fund, and the Dr. Richard H. Heller Fund.
Roundtable goal:
An international group of legal academics, bioethicists, lawyers, and medical researchers from North America and southern Africa were brought together in Baltimore to examine the ethical and legal challenges to developing and distributing essential medicines in African countries.
Project description:
The roundtable focused on four topics:
- Access to essential medicines as a human right.
- The law and ethics of clinical trials: What rules should govern clinical research in Africa?
- What do clinical researchers and sponsors owe to host communities?
- Legal regimes and obstacles: Free trade, intellectual property, and access to medicine.
Project outcomes:
Papers written by the roundtable panelists will be published in special symposium volumes of the Maryland Journal of International Law and UMB Law & Health Care Program's Journal of Health Care Law & Policy.
Download the roundtable agenda and participant list.
