Al-Sisi issues the clinical trials law … Why now?

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General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issued Law No. 214 of 2020, the Clinical Medical Research Law, known in the media as “clinical trials,” which was approved by the House of Representatives. The law was issued despite the concerns and objections of medical and health experts on some law articles.

Observers indicated that the timing of the issuance of the law came one day before the Egyptian authorities issued approval to use the Chinese vaccine to counter the Coronavirus. Many Egyptians fear that the new law will be a gateway to converting Egyptians into guinea pigs (lab mice). The articles of the law provisions apply to everything related to clinical medical research conducted on humans and their medical data in Egypt’s research bodies.

Al-Sisi had previously rejected the first copy of the law, in a parliamentary precedent, and returned the law again to the House of Representatives after the parliament approved it in a session of May 14, 2018. Al-Sisi’s rejection of the law at the time came due to the severe objections it faced in its first version, objections that were not fully resolved.

After more than two years after the controversy over it, the law came out in an amended formulation after the House of Representatives’ approval and the approval of the President of the Republic.