Acceptable risks and burdens for children in research without direct benefit: a systematic analysis of the decisions made by the Dutch Central Committee.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether the requirement of "minimal risk and burden" for paediatric research without direct benefit to the subjects compromises the ability to obtain data necessary for improving paediatric care. To provide evidence-based reflections on the EU recommendation that allows for a higher level of risk.


METHODS
Systematic analysis of the approval/rejection decisions made by the Dutch Central Committee on Research involving Human Subjects (CCMO).


METHODS
The analysis included 165 proposals for paediatric research without direct benefit that were reviewed by the CCMO between January, 2000, and July, 2007. A separate, in-depth analysis of all drug studies included 18 early phase drug studies and nine other drug studies without direct benefit.


RESULTS
11 out of 165 studies were definitively rejected because the CCMO did not regard the risk and/or burden to be minimal. In three of these 11 cases (including two early phase drug studies) the requirement of minimal risk and burden was cited as the only reason for rejection. Four other early phase drug studies also involved risks and/or burdens that were not regarded to be minimal but were nevertheless approved.


CONCLUSIONS
The requirement of minimal risk and burden, aiming to protect research subjects, occasionally leads to rejection of protocols. Early phase drug studies relatively often do not comply with the requirement. Committees may find ways to approve important studies that formally should be rejected, but that is not a desirable solution. The regulatory framework should be revised to make such occasional exceptions to the requirement legitimate and transparent.
Westra
Anna E
AE
Department of Paediatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands. a.e.westra@lumc.nl
Sukhai
Rám N
RN
Wit
Jan M
JM
de Beaufort
Inez D
ID
Cohen
Adam F
AF
D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000941:ethics*; D002648:Child; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003657:Decision Making; D006805:Human Experimentation; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D010372:Pediatrics; D012306:Risk