Inadequate Medical Research - Essay Example

Further research carried out found huge errors in the initial study and thus the conclusion, but much damage had already been done: physicians were still reluctant to prescribe this drug to Blacks, who were themselves, very skeptical of taking it. Consequently, many HIV-positive patients turned into full-blown AIDS sufferers.

            Money has become one of the main barriers to complete access to medication for many. These drugs are too expensive for people on Medicaid, who then relied on state help for getting the drugs. Conversely, there was limited supply for the people who were not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid and state monetary assistance. Another barrier to this was the fear of physicians in prescribing the protease inhibitors to people of lower socioeconomic strata and drug abusers - mostly people of color. As taking the wrong dosage would lead to drug resistance, rather than spending time on educating people about correct drug use, doctors preferred not giving them the medication at all.

            Admittedly, remedial steps are being taken on the government level to counter barriers mentioned above. However, there are new ones quickly replacing the older ones: there is a significant bias for research against African Americans. A prime example of this is when in 2003 research into AIDSVAX, the first vaccine ever to have reached Phase 3 testing, was dismissed despite there being proof that it could be curative for Blacks and Asians. Even large media companies refused to question the reason why research into the drug was halting in spite of showing chances of success.

            A study was carried out by the National Institute of Health to recheck why disparity occurred in this drug’s efficacy for blacks and Asians but not whites. This research concluded that this was most likely a result of chance. Even if there was a small possibility that this drug did hold some hope for HIV patients, especially blacks, it called for further research and testing. 

            For more research, the sample size of blacks must be increased. The reason mostly given for not carrying out further research is that blacks are resistant to being subjects for testing, especially for HIV. However, many researchers have been successful in recruiting a large number of blacks for their work. This implies that there is a need for more trust and empathy for blacks to cooperate.

            It is the right of African Americans to have more research conducted into AIDSVAX as they do represent the majority of sufferers of this disease. Furthermore, if this drug does indeed prove to be primarily applicable to blacks, these differences will most likely be environmental; even if the differences are determined to be somewhat racial, one successful drug could be made adaptive to whites with further work.

            The world indeed sits in wait for a miracle drug that could cure the ‘incurable’ AIDS. So far, AIDSVAX is the only drug that has come closest to being it. Our country has a battle with itself right now of overcoming this discrimination against race and color for the common good.