An EU funded project has been given the task of finding out if the elderly should be able to take part in more clinical trials. Currently the elderly, who account for high cunsumption, are very often left out of clinical trials. To look at this issue the PREDICT consortium intends to talk to both the stakeholders of older people’s health and the companies who initiate clinical trials.
The consortium started looking at the problem in 2008 and has started to publish its findings:
It is essential to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of drugs. And clinical trials need to take into account issues relevant to this population, i.e. changed metabolism, multiple chronic conditions and polypharmacy. This Charter has been developed as part of PREDICT (www.predicteu.org) a project supported by the EU to investigate in/ exclusion of older people from clinical trials.
Research findings will be presented of systematic reviews of the literature, surveys with health professionals working with older people, and focus groups with patients and carers.
Find out more on the PREDICT website
Tags: clinical trials, elderly, PREDICT
