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Trial of risperidone in India – concerns

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland.

K. C. Murphy

Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

Correspondence: E-mail: amurtagh{at}rcsi.ie

EDITED BY KIRIAKOS XENITIDIS and COLIN CAMPBELL

Although it is encouraging to see the Journal take an active role in redressing ‘editorial racism’ as discussed in a previous editorial (Tyrer, 2005), there is a need to ensure that promotion of positive discrimination does not exacerbate the problem.

We feel that a recently published randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of risperidone performed in India illustrates the dangers inherent in such a policy (Khanna et al, 2005). The report had a number of serious shortcomings, which included omission of crucial details of the process of randomisation, interrater reliability and the measures taken to ensure masking. However, the most worrying aspect of the trial was the use of a placebo in the control group and the apparent absence of any ethical approval to proceed with this study. What was the justification for denying severely unwell and vulnerable patients access to appropriate treatment? Why was there no discussion about the ethical dilemmas associated with this study?

We support the Journal policy of combating editorial racism by promoting positive discrimination in the instructions to referees. However, the Journal must not relinquish its responsibilities as the official journal of the Royal College of Psychiatrists by failing to act as final arbiter for the quality (including the ethics) of the Journal’s content.

REFERENCES

Khanna, S., Vieta, E., Lyons, B., et al (2005) Risperidone in the treatment of acute mania: double-blind, placebo-controlled study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 187, 229 –234.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Tyrer, P. (2005) Combating editorial racism in psychiatric publications. British Journal of Psychiatry, 186, 1 –3.[Free Full Text]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Murtagh, A. Articles by Murphy, K. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Murtagh, A. Articles by Murphy, K. C.