French public familiarity and attitudes toward clinical research during the COVID-19 pandemic

Émilien Schultz (1, 2, 3) , Jeremy K Ward (1, 4) , Laëtitia Atlani-Duault (2, 3) , Seth Holmes (1) , Julien Mancini (1)

1 SESSTIM - U1252 INSERM - Aix Marseille Univ - UMR 259 IRD - Sciences Economiques et Sociales de la Santé & Traitement de l'Information Médicale
2 CEPED - UMR_D 196 - Centre population et développement
3 SAGESUD - ERL Inserm U1244 - Santé, vulnérabilités et relations de genre au sud
4 VITROME - Vecteurs - Infections tropicales et méditerranéennes

The COVID-19 pandemic put clinical research in the media spotlight globally. This article proposes a first measure of familiarity with and attitude toward clinical research in France. Drawing from the “Health Literacy Survey 2019” (HLS19) conducted online between 27 May and 5 June 2020 on a sample of the French adult population (N = 1003), we show that a significant proportion of the French population claimed some familiarity with clinical trials (64.8%) and had positive attitudes (72%) toward them. One of the important findings of this study is that positive attitudes toward clinical research exist side by side with a strong distancing from the pharmaceutical industry. While respondents acknowledged that the pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in clinical research (68.3%), only one-quarter indicated that they trust the industry (25.7%). Positive attitudes toward clinical trials were associated with familiarity with clinical trials (Odds Ratio, OR 2.97 [1.90–4.63]), financial difficulties (OR 0.63 [0.46–0.85]), as well as mistrust of doctors (0.48 [0.27–0.85]) and of scientists (OR 0.62 [0.38–0.99]). Although the French media provided a great deal of information on how clinical research works during the first months of the pandemic, there remains profound mistrust of the pharmaceutical industry in France. This suspicion can undermine crisis management, especially in the areas of vaccine development and preparation for future pandemics.

Mots clés: clinical research; public attitudes; survey; COVID-19; pharmaceutical industry; media coverage

Domaines: Bactériologie; Cardiologie et système cardiovasculaire; Maladies émergentes; Maladies infectieuses; Parasitologie; Virologie

Émilien Schultz, Jeremy K Ward, Laëtitia Atlani-Duault, Seth Holmes, Julien Mancini. French public familiarity and attitudes toward clinical research during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021, 18 (5), pp.2611. ⟨10.3390/ijerph18052611⟩. ⟨hal-03215619⟩