Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 2021 Jan;30(1):51-58. doi: 10.1017/S0963180120000481. Epub 2020 Jun 5.
While the world rushed to develop treatments for COVID-19, some turned hopefully to drug repurposing (drug repositioning). However, little study has addressed issues of drug repurposing in emergency situations from a broader perspective, taking into account the social and ethical ramifications. When drug repurposing is employed in emergency situations, the fairness of resource distribution becomes an issue that requires careful ethical consideration.This paper examines the drug repurposing in emergency situations focusing on the fairness using Japanese cases. Ethical issues under these circumstances addressed by the authors include: maintaining the evidence level, integrity of clinical research ethics, and voluntary consent by original indication patients. In order to address these issues, they argue that rapid accumulation of ethically and scientifically valid evidence is required, as is obtaining information on resource quantity.
当全世界都在竞相开发针对 COVID-19 的治疗方法时，有些人满怀希望地转向药物重新定位（药物再定位）。然而，很少有研究从更广泛的角度来探讨紧急情况下药物重新定位的问题，考虑到社会和伦理方面的影响。当药物重新定位用于紧急情况时，资源分配的公平性成为一个需要仔细考虑伦理的问题。本文通过日本案例，考察了紧急情况下药物重新定位的公平性问题。作者在这些情况下讨论的伦理问题包括：保持证据水平、临床研究伦理的完整性，以及原始适应症患者的自愿同意。为了解决这些问题，他们认为需要快速积累在伦理和科学上有效的证据，并且需要获得关于资源数量的信息。
