Journal of Clinical Research & Bioethics

Abstract

An Ethically Accepted Concept but not well known: Research Ethics Committees in Nigeria on the Concept of Benefit Sharing

Bege D and Kris D

Background: The concept of benefit sharing deals with the issue of what participants and communities ought to benefit from participation in research. There are few empirical studies that focus on the aspect of benefit sharing in clinical research. As such, this research examines the awareness and viewpoints of Ethics Review Committees in Nigeria on the current discourses related to the concept of benefit sharing.
Methods: Semi structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders of selected Research Ethics Committees in Nigeria. Interviews were audio recorded, imported to NVIVO 10 software, transcribed and thematically analyzed.
Results: Ten interviews were conducted with members of Ethics Committees in Nigeria. Respondents expressed different understandings of benefit sharing. They considered benefit sharing as a panacea for adverse drug reactions, financial gratification and as a means of disseminating research findings. They also highlighted different ways to achieve fair benefits in research, such as the inclusion of negotiations with community representatives and the use of benchmarks on research benefits. Furthermore, respondents favor the development of legal frameworks on benefit sharing in international research.
Discussion: Research findings indicate that benefit sharing, is a well accepted ethical concept. However, it lacks good awareness among ethics committees especially when compared to the ethical concept of informed consent. The lack of awareness is analogous with the fact that there is a lack of a consistent definition among research scholars. A succinct and consistent definition is essential to boost global advocacy on benefit sharing. Furthermore, to improve good outcomes of benefits in research, efforts of the community representatives should be complemented with the expertise of ethics committees.
Conclusions: a good awareness on the concept of benefit sharing will help in improving its practice, improve its advocacy and set the pace for the development of a benefit sharing framework in clinical research.