Contraception is not essential for drugs trial

I READ with interest the comments recently attributed to a spokesperson from the Mater Hospital, Dublin.

The spokesperson stated that “the absolute requirement of some pharmaceutical companies that women of childbearing potential must use contraceptives during trials is not supported by our ethos”.

The comments were made in the context of the ongoing row over the initiation of the clinical trial with the cancer drug Tarceva (erlotinib), reported in the media.