Public motives and willingness to participate in first-in-human clinical trials in Saudi Arabia: A new era in the making

Barriers and Facilitators in Conducting Clinical Trials in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Monocentric Italian Survey

BACKGROUND

Clinical therapeutic trials are a fundamental tool for identifying and testing new categories of drugs useful for ensuring clinical benefit in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). A number of difficulties may affect the recruitment process in large clinical trials.

OBJECTIVES

In order to increase the involvement of patients within clinical trials in IBD therapy, it is necessary to identify which factors could facilitate or discourage participation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factors influencing the participation in clinical trials in a consecutive series of patients with IBD from a single referral center from Southern Italy.

METHODS

Consecutive patients with Crohn´s Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC) were recruited to complete a questionnaire dealing with their knowledge about clinical trials and attitudes towards participation. Patients also completed the Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (S-IBDQ) to investigate their Quality of Life (QoL). Demographic and clinical data were recorded.

RESULTS

Of the 145 consecutive patients invited to the survey, 132 completed the survey (91% response rate). Of them, 67% claimed their willingness to take part in a clinical therapeutic trial for IBD. Multivariate analysis showed a significant positive association between interest in clinical trials and previous experience (p = 0.014), high education (p < 0.001), poor QoL (p = 0.016), money retributions (p = 0.03) and informative materials (p = 0.02). On the other hand, a long-standing disease (p = 0.017), the possibility of receiving a placebo (p = 0.04) and the frequent colonoscopies required by the study protocol (p = 0.04) were significantly associated with the lack of interest in clinical trials.

CONCLUSION

In a native local resident series of IBD patients, the majority of the patients were willing to participate in a clinical therapeutic trial. A long-standing disease, placebo and invasive procedures represented a barrier to enrollment while previous experience, high education, monetary compensation and adequate information could be facilitative. Knowing barriers and facilitators affecting participation in IBD clinical trials is of fundamental importance in order to increase the involvement of patients in research and explore new treatment opportunities.

The willingness of the Saudi Arabian population to participate in the COVID-19 vaccine trial: A case-control study

OBJECTIVES

This study examines the Saudi Arabian population's willingness to participate in clinical trials for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine, comparing recovered cases' willingness with that of healthy volunteers.

METHODS

A case-control study was conducted on the Saudi Arabian population during September 2020. The data were collected from recovered COVID-19 participants as the case group, and healthy volunteers as the control group.

RESULTS

The data showed that 42.2% (n = 315) of recovered COVID-19 cases were more willing to participate in the COVID-19 vaccine trial than healthy volunteers (299; 38.1%) with a p < 0.001. The proportion of the participants who were willing to donate plasma was significantly higher among recovered participants, 84.2% (n = 112), than healthy volunteers, 76.3% (n = 87), with a p < 0.0001. The most significant factor responsible for a willingness to participate was the belief that vaccine discovery would help scientific developments (r = 0.525 and 0.465 for case and control, respectively). In comparison, significant reasons behind the unwillingness to participate were the risk of exposure to an unproven vaccine, r = 0.377 and 0.497 for case and control, respectively (p < 0.001), and a discomfort with being treated as an experimental subject (r = 0.275 and 0.374 for case and control, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

The differences in readiness toward the COVID-19 vaccine trial in our study does not indicate any passive exposure of participants to an unproven clinical trial vaccine, nor does it shed light on well-informed risk-related decisions. However, certain factors can significantly influence decision-making while contributing toward clinical research. This study's results must not be used for the individuals' recruitment bias in a COVID-19 vaccine trial.

Awareness and willingness to participate in clinical trials in togo

Context:

Clinical Trials (CTs) are the key when it comes to informing clinical decision-making processes. There is a very low number of CTs conducted in Togo, and there is no study that assessed the willingness of Togolese to participate in CTs.

Aims:

The aim of this study was to assess public awareness and willingness to participate in CTs in Togo.

Subjects and Methods:

We designed a cross-sectional study, using an online survey with Google Form in the general population, carried out from December 2019 to March 2020.

Statistical Analysis Used:

An Excel sheet was generated from the Google Form, and we performed a descriptive analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics 21. All variables were presented as frequencies and percentages.

Results:

This study involved 210 participants. The findings of this study are showing that Togolese are reasonably aware about CTs, and they have a positive intention to participate, but they are ignorant of national CTs regulations. Although unawareness and unwillingness may be universally common, one challenge in Togo is the lack of communication.

Conclusions:

The findings of this study are encouraging. The National Bioethics Committee for Health needs to be better communicative, and providing training in clinical research is essential.