First Islamic Code for Medical Ethics Gets WHO Backing

Story here. There is not much information there about the code itself, but this paper by Hossam Arafa, and this one by Ahmed Dirie are recommended by IslamOnline as resources to describe the code's origins.

The Pandemic Will (Not) Be Immunized?

WaPo reports that the Avian flu is not particularly interesting to pharmaceutical companies, although Chiron and Aventis Pasteur are working on vaccination research. WHO has described this as the next pandemic-in-waiting, and has scheduled a meeting 11/11 to urge other pharmaceutical companies to get involved at all in research.

Women and Infants in HIV Trials

A WHO and UNAIDS meeting discussed the issues of gender and age, as well as race, in HIV trials. Macklin is quoted: "We have identified measures aimed at rectifying the injustice stemming from the frequent exclusion or low participation of women and adolescents in HIV vaccine clinical trials. Clinical trial enrolment needs to be more inclusive, so the benefits of research are more fairly distributed."