Shortage of patients for clinical trials hampers Japan's search for COVID-19 treatments

Normally 5-7 years for testing vaccines. Let’s not panic and rush into anything here

The "shortage of patients" is a great thing. Don't complain.

Personally speaking, no one in their right mind is going to want to volunteer for testing a vaccination here, the risks far outweigh the benefits, and in my opinion, these companies will not do enough for people who WILL become ill from the vaccination itself and possibly die, or worse!

Japan always seems to have groundbreaking research but treatments stemming from them never seem to. be widely available or plain overpriced-why?

The "shortage of patients" is a great thing. Don't complain.

The complaint is not about hoping for more patients, but to preemptively explain why proper trials cannot be expected from studies inside the country. Eventually people will come to complain that Japanese companies could not even put a single vaccine on the market at the same time as other countries or why they had to run their trials on Brazil instead of Japan, this is the reason.

Personally speaking, no one in their right mind is going to want to volunteer for testing a vaccination here, the risks far outweigh the benefits, and in my opinion, these companies will not do enough for people who WILL become ill from the vaccination itself and possibly die, or worse!

When health care professionals that have dedicated their lives to cure and protect people and have recognized careers say the opposite of what you think, personally speaking, I would say more people are going to listen to them instead of you, specially when they have scientific data to support their conclusions.

Pretty hard to find people with Covid when you do no testing. If they started mass testings like other countries I'm sure they'd find lots of potential vaccine guinea pigs.

tokyo_joe

Pretty hard to find people with Covid when you do no testing. If they started mass testings like other countries I'm sure they'd find lots of potential vaccine guinea pigs.

Yup. Was going to say the exact same thing. Test less than 1% of the population - expect to have really low numbers (almost a Trumpian thing).

the epidemic drove Japan's medical system to the brink of collapse in recent months

Hahaha, sure

Just a suggestion, why test in Japan? when Brazil is a virus breeding ground and many poor people there would jump at the opportunity to earn ¥50000 for a clinical trial.

tokyo_joeToday 08:48 am JST

Pretty hard to find people with Covid when you do no testing. If they started mass testings like other countries I'm sure they'd find lots of potential vaccine guinea pigs.

I believe testing a vaccine should be about getting people who do not have the virus but are at risk, vaccinating half and compare the outcome though.

This simple report just gave us a much needed and better perspective on the pandemic.

It "appears" that there are "fewer" people being hospitalized after contracting the virus, even with fewer testing in Japan compared to those that have extensive testing. It also indicates that many people in Japan are weary of being tested upon using a vaccine even if there is a pandemic. Which seem to indicate that the fear of the vaccine itself is greater than the virus itself.

It also indicates that while "money" seem to buy a lot of things, including people, that may not be the case here. Whether it is the amount of payment or the "reputation" of the reliability trust placed upon the drug company, when left to individual"choice", the Japanese are rather thoughful and independent. That is unless the authority (what ever that may be) that they choose to trust recommends or prescribes an action to take.

Just a suggestion, why test in Japan? when Brazil is a virus breeding ground and many poor people there would jump at the opportunity to earn ¥50000 for a clinical trial.

The most important reason because ethical committees put a lot of red tape on doing this. A lot of times compensation end up being prohibited (because of bias and ethical concerns) and a lot of preliminary studies and commitments become requisites (for example is necessary to prove the immunity and related medical factors are equivalent between the studied population and the intended target, and a certain amount of vaccine has to be provided at a competitive cost for the population tested if it turns out to be effective and safe, to avoid accusations that they were just used without receiving the benefits of the research, etc.)

So it increases cost, reduces the control that the researchers have about the test conditions and requires several extra steps to be approved in at least 2 countries. That is why it is never the first option.

@kazetsukai

It "appears" that there are "fewer" people being hospitalized after contracting the virus, even with fewer testing in Japan compared to those that have extensive testing.

Nothing in this report indicates that. Simple lack of infections is enough to explain low number of hospitalizations.

 It also indicates that many people in Japan are weary of being tested upon using a vaccine even if there is a pandemic. Which seem to indicate that the fear of the vaccine itself is greater than the virus itself.

No, that is mistaken, the researchers have no reason to vaccinate people that are extremely unlikely to get infected, there is no reports of people refusing to become volunteers, just that there is not value on even recruiting those volunteers in Japan. Nothing indicates that Japanese people have any special fear of vaccination.

It also indicates that while "money" seem to buy a lot of things, including people, that may not be the case here

That is false, clinical trials have extremely sever ethical standards to fulfill, and that includes compensation for the volunteers. For a vaccine candidate with proper studies the compensation is usually nothing that would convince anybody of volunteering if they did not have that intention from the beginning.

You are just assuming a lot of things that are not written anywhere and are likely false.

If there was more than a tiny number of the population being tested then more people with the virus would be identified. Just a thought.

tokyo_joe

Pretty hard to find people with Covid when you do no testing. If they started mass testings like other countries I'm sure they'd find lots of potential vaccine guinea pigs.

Yup. Was going to say the exact same thing. Test less than 1% of the population - expect to have really low numbers (almost a Trumpian thing).

> If there was more than a tiny number of the population being tested then more people with the virus would be identified. Just a thought.

Agree with the 3 comments above

Japan’s success? Japan has just been very lucky. The doomsday scenario many predicted has yet to pass, but...the virus is likely far more prevalent than is being let on.

Is that cause for panic? Not necessarily

There are still many new patients in California, USA and other Western states. . . . some who may be of Japanese background.  Perhaps these patients can be asked if they would like try it.

Due to the decreasing number of coronavirus infections, we believe it will take some time before clinical research is completed

Shouldn't it be

Due to the decreasing number of PCR testing.

When health care professionals that have dedicated their lives to cure and protect people and have recognized careers say the opposite of what you think, personally speaking, I would say more people are going to listen to them instead of you, specially when they have scientific data to support their conclusions.

You do realize the article is about Japanese pharma and not the medical health professionals that you are talking about here!

I guess in your rush to respond, you didnt read the article did you? Wait, why do I even ask this question when your response here already gives me the answer!

You do realize the article is about Japanese pharma and not the medical health professionals that you are talking about here!

Who do you think are developing and testing vaccines and drugs? only "pharma"? why do you think health ministry officials and doctors from universities are giving their opinion in the article?

Because doctors and other health professionals are deeply involved in the whole process, from those in a tiny clinic on the countryside to those working in Geneva for the WHO. They actively design the studies, are part of the ethical committees giving permision to do them, put in order the systems to evaluate the health of the participants, and a very long etc.

If they put their name and careers behind their recommendations and say the vaccines candidates or drugs they are developing and testing are safer than the disease they are preventing or treating definitely they are much more trustworthy than a nameless person of the internet that does not even have an idea about how the whole process is done and think "pharma" is some kind of all powerful entity that does everything by itself.

Where did some of you come up with testing a vaccine from this article?