Crowdfunding can raise money quickly and with minimal bureaucracy. But it should not be considered as a way to finance clinical trials because of potential ethical implications.
One problem is that funding recipients are not accountable to the public because crowdfunding is unregulated. Another is that there is no setting of research priorities, so crowdfunded clinical trials may not be the most important or widely applicable ones. And media tactics could attract emotional donations, for example by generating false expectations of a 'cure'. Moreover, an inconclusive or negative outcome could erode public trust.
By contrast, the mainstream funding process for clinical trials takes into account disease prevalence, morbidity and mortality, justice and utility. Crowdfunding for clinical trials should be similarly regulated to mitigate its potential risks.
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Cheah, P. Crowdfunding not fit for clinical trials. Nature 527, 446 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/527446e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/527446e