Controversy over clinical-trial rules

Abstract

In a blow to patient-privacy advocates, the US government has abandoned a plan that required scientists to obtain the consent of people who donate biological samples before using the material in subsequent studies, even if those specimens cannot be identified. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed the change in September 2015 as part of an overhaul of the Common Rule, a set of regulations that govern clinical trials and patient consent in research.