Parliament approves draft law of clinical trials

CAIRO – 14 May 2018: The Egyptian House of Representatives headed by Ali Abdelaal approved on Sunday the draft law of clinical trials, which governs the organization of clinical medical research in Egypt.

Clinical trials are the tests conducted on human participants, or groups of humans, in order to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of newly developed medications or medical devices. This law has raised many concerns over the ethical nature and legality of the process.

As the second-biggest destination for clinical trials in Africa, Egypt has witnessed a steady increase in the number of trials it hosts, which has pushed Parliament to discuss this law, potentially putting restrictions on experiments that are conducted in hospitals.

In February 2016, there were 57 active clinical drug trials, and over half of these trials were to assess cancer treatments.

According to the law, no one will forcibly be subjected to clinical trials, which are performed on a volunteer basis.

The clinical trial law, consisting of 18 articles, was first discussed by Parliament in 2006. As the society strongly rejected the law, it was suspended. It was issued again in 2014 without the amendments to its articles.