Health research, fair benefits and access to medicines.

ABSTRACT

Access to medicines within the context of health research is viewed as a negotiation for 'fair benefits" where it is judged by the host country that access to medicines is the most important and desirable benefit. Research ethics committees in the host country, both local and central, are set to be key players in that determination. However, access to medicines, or "reasonable availability" of medicines in research ethics guidelines, may be difficult to achieve in practice. In extreme cases, the problem of access to medicines may need to be viewed as a global problem, beyond the negotiations within the fair benefits framework.