Innovative Practice in Latin America: Medical Tourism and the Crowding Out of Research

Abstract

In an insightful article, Jacob Earl outlines the concept of innovative practice, addresses ethical problems and presents a permissive oversight proposal to deal with the ethical concerns identified. We agree to a large extent with Earl´s approach and, therefore, decided to develop his comprehensive analysis further. In particular, we want to extend it from national to global contexts. In this regard we argue that innovative practice in countries with poor regulation of the sale and marketing of new drugs carries a higher risk of crowding out research. In turn, this entails the potential harm to global public health caused by a significant reduction or exclusion of sound and socially valuable research. We think that analyzing innovative practices performed in a global landscape of poor regulation, like the one we find in many Latin American countries, can provide us with useful insights into Earl´s approach.