Clinical Trial Organisation Demands Clean Chit for Compensation
Dey said as a final attempt to get some help he made his way to the Telangana High Court complex a few days later, where he sought help from advocates.
Hyderabad: Dipankar Dey, participant in a clinical trial for an anti-cancer drug, said that the clinical research organisation (CRO) conducting the tests would pay him Rs.30,000 only if he gave a signed undertaking that the heart attack he suffered had nothing to do with the clinical trial, and only if he deleted his posts on X (Twitter) about his trials and tribulations.
“I had the heart attack on July 17. By mid-August I was out of money, spent three days in a temple near the Balanagar bus stop without food. Then I went to the Balanagar police, I think on August 21 or 22, asking for a complaint to be registered,” he said.
Balanagar inspector T. Narasimha Raju, when asked about the issue, said when Dey went to lodge a complaint, they called the CRO and made it clear that Dey’s concerns must be addressed as he was claiming that his health condition was a result of the trial.
“They came to lodge a complaint that he was posting about them on social media. I told them that it was for them to address his concerns because he was their clinical trial participant seeking redressal. I refused to entertain them, and ensured that he received the documents he was entitled to,” the Balanagar inspector told Deccan Chronicle.
Dey said that only after the police insisted that he be given all the documents did the CRO give him the informed consent copy, and the hospital records. “But they did not give me the ECG and other papers from first visit to the hospital in Secunderabad,” he said.
Dey said as a final attempt to get some help he made his way to the Telangana High Court complex a few days later, where he sought help from advocates. “Some said they cannot help, and one of them saw the documents I had and said he will help but advised me to first go to Gandhi Hospital to get a check-up first as my arm was swollen. The doctor there who saw me prescribed some medicines. All I want is that I must be compensated for my health that is damaged because of the heart attack and I believe was caused by the medicine they gave me,” Dey said.
The 38-year-old said he was in Pune and was out of work as a centreing worker due to the rain. Someone he knew suggested that he download an app providing information on clinical trials and volunteer openings and that is how he came to know of the trial he signed up for in Hyderabad. “I thought the money can help me pay off some loans, and for medicines for my mother who is an invalid,” he said.