A controversial impending clinical trial on puberty blocking drugs in Britain will begin on Saturday to recruit hundreds of children as young as 11-years-old.
The so-called “Pathways” trial being run by King’s College London (KCL) will start recruiting some 226 children between the ages of 11 and 16 on August 1st as it seeks to determine the benefits or risks of puberty blockers on supposedly transgender children, the BBC reported.
In 2024, a review from paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass found that previous justification for the use of such hormone-altering therapies in children was “built on shaky foundations” and thus the National Health Service (NHS) should not proscribe them.
Yet, Dr Cass said there should be an exception for clinical trials, despite the potential of permanently damaging participating children. Cass said last month that the study was “essential” to determine “whether these drugs are helpful or not”.
The clinical trial was originally set to commence in January but was delayed following legal action taken by Bayswater Support Group, which represents hundreds of concerned parents.
However, this challenge was thrown out by the High Court on Friday after Mr Justice Chamberlain ruled that the child participants would be assessed for months by doctors who will have “formed the opinion that a child has a reasonable prospect of receiving a clinical benefit from the treatment”.
In a statement following the ruling, Bayswater said it was “extremely disappointed” with the High Court’s decision, saying that they do not believe that the trial meets the “legal and ethical thresholds required for research on children.”
“We brought this challenge because we believe the decision to authorise a clinical trial of puberty blockers in children failed to meet the protective requirements that exist specifically for research involving minors. The Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations and the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki are supposed to ensure that children, who cannot consent for themselves, are only enrolled in trials that offer a realistic prospect of direct benefit and rest on a proper scientific foundation. They are not intended to permit experimental interventions on highly vulnerable children simply in order to discover whether benefit exists,” the group said.
Kiera Bell, a former patient at the infamous Tavistock Centre who was prescribed puberty-blocking drugs as a child and later came to regret it, said that it is a “tragedy” that the court has given the trial permission to proceed.
“The medical profession and morality do not always walk hand-in-hand. If they did, this trial would be out of the question. The push for this trial represents one aspect of a profound descent into the desecration of our humanity. The protection of children should be an inviolate principle, but this clinical trial tells a different story,” Bell said.
“I know first-hand how much this process breaks you. My story and the story of many others since should have been a big enough warning. A trial has already been conducted and the results were bleak. The bottom line is that responsible adults must protect children from harm. We will be consulting as a team regarding the possibility of appeal,” she added.
A spokeswoman for King’s College London claimed that the “safety and welfare of young people will remain our highest priority in carrying out this research”.