You Get What Someone Else Will Pay For

documents, information about how much the tested medical intervention is expected to cost future patients is not routinely madeavailable to research participants. Two arguments are offered in support of including this information. First, justice demands thatparticipants are given this information so that they do not inadvertently sign up for studies to test interventions that in the futurewill be out of their financial reach, or the reach of their family or community. Second, the cost of an intervention is rightly partof the risk/benefit profile of any medical intervention, and as such should be included so that research participants can make ajudgment comparing the tested intervention against the current standard of care, if one is available. Several objections to this newpractice are raised. Sharing the future costs of the treatment under investigation may be prohibitive to study sponsors who don'tyet have that information; it may be unhelpful to participants who won't know what to make of the information; finally, theinformation may not be relevant to current participants. Replies are offered to each objection. It is concluded that researchparticipants should be given information about the future costs of the medical interventions they are testing so that they mightbe fully informed about the risks and benefits of the medical intervention under study.