LÓPEZ-GATELL AND BIOETHICS IN THE TIME OF THE PANDEMIC

At different moments in the history of the world there have existed people dedicated to saving lives. People who act only after acquiring knowledge that is typically described as “errorfree.” Which implies that behind every triumph there are countless errors that have been gradually corrected until the desired goal is achieved, to which many minds, bodies, and opinions have contributed.

Clinical trials were designed to diagnose, prevent, or offer treatments for various illnesses. In some cases, the researchers themselves have served as volunteer subjects in order to learn how a substance functions and what reactions it has on the human body.

In this way, treatments have been developed in various branches of medicine to help us combat everyday illnesses and diseases. Clinical research goes beyond experimental studies, however, since the roles played by both patients and researchers are of vital importance. It is on this last point that the present text will focus.

Over the past year, the health of human beings has been gravely affected by the Covid-19 virus. In Mexico, a public health expert has undertaken to disseminate the most relevant information regarding the virus, but before the pandemic, he was little known on the international stage and even lacked recognition in his own country, in spite of being a public figure. That has all changed now for this epidemiologist, researcher, academic, and public servant, Hugo López- Gatell Ramírez, who has occupied the post of Under-Secretary for the Prevention and Health Promotion since December of 2018.

López-Gatell Ramírez was born on 22 February 1969 to Dr. Francisco López-Gatell Trujillo and his Mexican wife Margarita Ramírez Duarte, a nurse. His father, born in Tarragona, Spain, in 1925, studied chemistry before becoming a surgeon, specializing in urology, through the Massachusetts General Hospital. Hugo López- Gatell attended the medical school of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), graduating in 1994. Six years later he specialized in internal medicine at the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán and then, as if that were not enough, earned a master’s degree in medical, dental, and health sciences at the UNAM and a doctorate in epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Health at Johns Hopkins University. As part of his post-doctorate work, he carried out a study of the effects of tuberculosis on the survival of men infected with HIV, which was published as an article in 2008. As a researcher, he has written or participated in the writing of more than forty articles. Over the past year, his work has been cited some 5,000 times and, following his fine performance combatting the pandemic, he was elected to the expert committee to draw up the International Health Regulations of the World Health Organization, on which he will participate for a period of four years.

Several months ago, López-Gatell mentioned the importance of finding subjects for future clinical research to be performed in developing a vaccine against the Covid-19 virus. In a communiqué, the under-secretary emphasized the point that people were at no risk of harm from the testing, as there are international norms, which Mexico of course adheres to, in the areas of biosecurity, protection of human subjects, research standards, and ethics. He also pointed out that anyone, regardless of his or her nationality, could volunteer for the testing, always providing the decision was to do so was made freely. The request for volunteers implied no risk, however, since the health and safety of the participants were to be cared for. In fact, Dr. López-Gatell acts only as a spokesman, since, in line with the aforementioned safeguards and however reluctantly, official notification was given by the Under-Secretary for Health that the testing has been suspended, owing to the detection of certain adverse effects in several subjects. It is still not known whether these were caused by the vaccine itself, but the clinical trials were suspended.

In Mexico, research into any clinical protocol undergoes a rigorous review, before testing, by three committees: ethics, research, and biosecurity. Also, in order to reduce any possibility of causing harm to a minimum, a series of ethical principles has been established to govern the research protocols: respect for personal autonomy, non-detriment, benefit, and justice. These principles, reflected in both Mexican and international guidelines, are of course not limitative in scope, and it is necessary to complement them with other specifically ethical aspects of research, such as scientific integrity, confidentiality in the handling of information, and the social value of the research. Finally, López-Gatell has indicated that a meeting was held with representatives of Landsteiner Scientific, with a view to collaborating with the Russian government to perform tests of the Sputnik V vaccine in Mexico, in line with the bioethical requirements in effect in Mexico. The future remains uncertain, but it is hoped that the testing phases of the vaccine will soon be complete, so that simple “trial and error” can be left behind for good.

Diana Jacqueline Anguiano Castro

Graduated in Hispanic Literature from the University of Guadalajara. In 2018 she participated as a speaker in a colloquium held by the same university. In 2020 she took a diplomated in editorial design from the CAAV (University of Audiovisual Media). He works in the teaching area from 2017 to date. Recently, he started to support in several processes about the edition of a next philosophy and literature magazine.