Ethics, Equipoise and Research on Charged Particle Therapy. (360G-Wellcome-097468_Z_11_Z)

The clinical use of charged particle therapy to treat cancer is rapidly expanding worldwide. There is much debate about whether more clinical trials are necessary before this modality is brought into widespread use for many different cancers. This workshop seeks to make definitive progress on this debate by bringing together leaders in the relevant fields (radiation oncology, research ethics, medical physics, radiobiology, and health policy), as well as proponents on both sides of the debate, in an effort to make significant progress on the ethical issues associated with clinical trials of charged particle therapy. This progress will be achieved by endeavouring to reach a consensus, in the specific context of proton therapy research, about the nature of the concept of equipoise, its ethical significance and its application. The immediate aim of the workshop is to develop a consensus statement about these questions that will be published with all participants as co-authors. It is hoped that this consensus statement can provide an ethical platform on which future research can be built. It is also hoped that this workshop will enable further work to be done on developing the more specific details of an internationally coordinated program of research.