Industry Required to Publish Findings
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), an association of commercial pharmaceutical companies, has developed a new set of principles to guide research. A June 30 press release stated: “In the Principles, the PhRMA companies commit to the timely communication of all meaningful results of clinical trials, whether those results are positive or negative.”
On June 2, Attorney General Eliot Spitz sued pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline for consumer fraud for failing to publish unfavorable findings from a clinical trial of depressed adolescents. Recent media focus on the lawsuit and related issues has underscored the need to monitor industry-sponsored research.
Echoing PhRMA’s call for publication of all clinical trial findings, the American Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs (CSA) further has advocated requiring a federal registry of research findings for all clinical trials.
Journals may require registry as well. According to Joseph Heyman in a recent article in Research USA: "The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors is considering a requirement that trials be registered at the onset as a condition of publication to boost compliance."1
1 Joseph Heyman, "Clinical Trial Registry is an Idea Whose Time Has Come," Research USA, August 2, 2004.
Related Links:
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association Press Release
