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Review
. 2021 Nov 2:8:715796.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.715796. eCollection 2021.

Challenges During Review of COVID-19 Research Proposals: Experience of Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University Research Ethics Committee, Egypt

Diaa Marzouk  1 , Iman Sharawy  1 , Isabelle Nakhla  2 , Mostafa El Hodhod  1   3 , Hoda Gadallah  1 , Amr El-Shalakany  1 , Reda Elwakil  1 , Mohammed M Moussa  1 , Alaa Ismail  1 , Fathy M Tash  1
Affiliations
Review

Challenges During Review of COVID-19 Research Proposals: Experience of Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University Research Ethics Committee, Egypt

Diaa Marzouk et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an overwhelming increase in research studies submitted to research ethics committees (RECs) presenting many ethical challenges. This article aims to report the challenges encountered during review of COVID-19 research and the experience of the Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University Research Ethics Committee (FMASU REC). From April 10, 2020, until October 13, 2020, the FMASU REC reviewed 98 COVID-19 research protocols. This article addressed the question of how to face an overwhelming amount of research submitted to the REC while applying the required ethical principles. Ethical challenges included a new accelerated mode of review, online meetings, balance of risks vs. benefits, measures to mitigate risks, co-enrolment in different studies, protection of a vulnerable COVID-19 population, accelerated decisions, online research, how to handle informed consent during the pandemic, and justification of placebo arm.

Keywords: COVID-19 research; Faculty of Medicine Ain Shams University; accelerated review; ethical challenges; research ethics committees.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
FMASU REC Workload from January 1st, 2008 to October 13th, 2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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