A clinical trial of puberty suppressing hormones in children with gender incongruence will now go ahead after the High Court threw out a legal challenge.1

Campaigners had sought to stop the high profile Pathways trial on the grounds that there were insufficient safeguards in place and that the treatment could cause long term physical and psychological harm to participants.

But the judge, Mr Justice Chamberlain, rejected their application for a judicial review on the basis that none of the grounds of challenge had a realistic chance of success.

He said the trial had been designed with “conspicuous care” and “each child will have been assessed over many months by specialist doctors.”

In each case the treating team will have formed the opinion that the child has a reasonable prospect of receiving a clinical benefit from participation in the trial, he said in his summary judgment. He added that there is a detailed process to ensure that the child …