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THE HEROES OF CLINICAL RESEARCH
Dr. Arturo Ávalos
RESEARCH
Dr. Arturo Ávalos holds a master’s degree in bioethics and is the General Director of Ekomite.
In considering C. S. Lewis’s emblematic novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (the first of The Chronicles of Narnia), it is worth comparing, from an ethical perspective, certain important aspects of the author’s narrative, which coincide, as it happens, with aspects of clinical research. And the fact that the novel belongs to so-called children’s literature should not devalue the conclusions drawn from this comparison. The protagonists of the story, in the context of a war, are sent far from their homes and placed under the care of an old professor, who lives in a many-roomed mansion on the outskirts of London. In one of the rooms they discover a wardrobe that turns out to be the entrance to a parallel world called Narnia. Full of apprehension, Lucy, Susan, Edmund, and Peter undertake to explore this astonishing realm where the rest of the story unfolds. Inhabited by a group of fantastical characters and governed by a “Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time,” Narnia has been awaiting the arrival of these “two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve” as the fulfillment of a prophecy, as the White Witch seeks to subject the entire realm to her will. The arrival of
the children leads to a battle in which the inhabitants of Narnia, led by a lion named Aslan, confront the White Witch and her army of followers. There is no need for more details for the reader to perceive the analogy. Clinical research is like the whole world of Narnia; each of its inhabitants like the different actors that make possible the development of new pharmaceuticals; the research subjects like the four young protagonists; the ethical principles and foundations that gave origin to the development of science are represented by Aslan the lion; and all malpractice in general by the witch. Thus, apart from relating each one of the characters as satyrs, centaurs, eagles, beavers, or dwarves (even when these show some similarities with certain researchers), it is worth reflecting, free of any influence, on the following: According to what principles do we exercise our activities as professionals in the field of clinical research? Because the mere fact of entering Narnia does not signify good fortune, just as neither does participating in a clinical trial bring benefits to all the subjects.
