Health trials call for older people

OLDER people should be given improved access to trials for new drug treatments amid evidence latest therapies are less likely to be tested in the elderly, campaigners will say today.

A charter calling for more rights for the elderly in drug trials will be launched in London under the European-wide Predict project.

The initiative has been co-ordinated by the Medical Economics and Research Centre, Sheffield (Mercs UK). The charter demands an end to age discrimination in clinical trials.

It calls for the elderly to have the right to be offered treatment based on evidence drugs and other treatments are effective in old age and of their impact on quality of life.

It comes as research shows older people are being excluded from trials for conditions occurring commonly in old age such as heart failure, high blood pressure, Alzheimer's disease, depression and colorectal cancer.

The Predict project found:

n Older people are unjustifiably excluded from clinical trials even from those testing drugs which are extremely common in old age;

n Health workers believe older people are being disadvantaged.;

n Information from trials on older people should be available so

the elderly can decide if they want to accept treatment from new drugs.