Morocco Introduces Compensation for Clinical Trial Volunteers, Sets Safety Guidelines

The draft relating to the implementation of law n 28-13 provides for allowances, the maximum amount of which to be paid to volunteers is set by the Ministry of Health and validated by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, reports Al Massae. The same draft stipulates that before any recruitment, the researcher or doctor is required to discuss with the volunteer to explain the nature of the planned research. Moreover, he must make available to the participants a document allowing them to withdraw their consent at any time. According to article 3 of the draft, the research is suspended for the aforementioned persons as soon as they sign the consent withdrawal document and receive a receipt from the researcher doctor.

In addition, sanctions are provided to protect volunteers participating in these biomedical research. Any researcher, service provider and intervener who intentionally endangers a person’s life or causes permanent disability to the participant is sentenced to 3 to 5 years in prison with a fine of 500,000 dirhams. The same penalty applies to any person who conducts biomedical research on a person without having previously obtained their consent, the same draft decree points out.