Title: High court clears way for clinical trial giving puberty blockers to childrenLink To: Article 🔗 [Link: theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/31/high-court-clinical-trial-puberty-blockers-children/]Author: Kevin Rawlinson
Date: Fri 31 Jul 2026 19.52 CEST
Trigger Warning: None
Brief summary of the articleA high court judge has rejected a legal challenge seeking to halt a King's College London clinical trial into puberty blockers for children. The court found the claims had no realistic chance of success, and the university said the study would use strict eligibility requirements and safety measures.
Main Points of the Article"A clinical trial of drugs that can delay puberty can go ahead after a high court judge threw out a legal challenge on Friday."
"Campaigners had launched the attempt to halt the planned research into puberty blockers, to be run by researchers at King's College London (KCL), on the grounds that they believed it could harm the children taking part."
"But Mr Justice Chamberlain refused the application for a judicial review, saying none of their claims had a realistic chance of success in court."
"The university welcomed the court's decision on Friday, saying particular care would be taken over the safety of participants of the trial, which will start recruiting more than 220 children aged between 11 and 16 years old from 1 August."
"A spokesperson for KCL said: "Pathways trial is a carefully designed study to give much needed evidence about the potential benefits and risks of puberty suppression to improve NHS care."
"A small number of young people with long-term gender incongruence, who have already received comprehensive psychological and social support through NHS gender services, will be eligible."
"The spokesperson added that the study would have "strict eligibility requirements" and that the trial's design had been "carefully reviewed by independent researchers and has been approved by the UK's health research regulators, the HRA and MHRA"."
Best Wishes AlwaysSarah BGlobal Moderator
