The subjects of contention are multiplying between the Ministries of Health and the Pharmaceutical Industry. In addition to the drug management file that the department of Pr Abderrahmane Benbouzid wants to recover, there is that of the participation of caregivers in clinical trials. The latter is the responsibility of the department of Lotfi Benbahmed.
Speaking on Algerian Radio on Monday, the Minister of Pharmaceutical Industry spoke of attempts to block clinical trials in Algeria. “They try to block us on clinical trials,” he said.
“Clinical trials are research and development. It’s developing products locally, increasing the integration rate, and no longer buying files,” he said.
Lotfi Benbahmed recalls that clinical trials in Algeria fall under the prerogatives of the Minister of Pharmaceutical Industry.
A question of prerogatives
“We find problems when these are prerogatives that have been given to the Ministry of Pharmaceutical Industry by law. But also, in the texts and the decree put in place, we involve all the stakeholders; the ministry of health, the hospitals, the ethics committee, a whole system,” he said.
Research and development in the medical field are “fundamental to be able to further increase the rate of integration”, he argued.
On December 20, Benbahmed indicated that clinical trials were stopped between 2017 and 2020 and that “nearly 20 clinical trials have been implemented in Algeria” in 2021. “We hope to set up 100 clinical trials”, he announced.
According to the Sante News site, the Minister of Health Abderrahmane Benbouzid conditioned in an instruction dated January 18 the participation of caregivers in a clinical trial to a compulsory authorization from his department.
An authorization which must be signed by the head of the establishment for which the health professional works and which must be accompanied by the favorable opinion of the head of the hospital where the latter exercises and on which must be mentioned, moreover , the vocation, the scientific gain of the trial in question as well as the details of the contribution of the clinician.
