UK study shows increasing levels of disclosure for industry-sponsored clinical trials

The publication this week of a study assessing clinical trial transparency is a baseline on the current position of clinical trial reporting by industry and makes an important contribution to assessing a complex global issue.

The study, published in the peer-review journal Current Medical Research and Opinion (CMRO), highlights a positive trend of increasing levels of disclosure for industry-sponsored clinical trials, but shows that more remains to be done. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) is calling for this research to be a catalyst for further change, leading to greater transparency across the pharmaceutical industry.

The study, which was commissioned by the ABPI, surveyed various publicly-available information sources to identify all industry-sponsored trials recorded on a clinical trial registry and/or included in an European Public Assessment Report (EPAR) relating to all new medicines approved by the European Medicines Agency over a recent three-year period (2009-2011 inclusive). In this period, there were 997 evaluable trials in patients posted across all registries and databases, relating to 53 new medicines.From this information, an assessment was undertaken on the disclosure of results of clinical trials which were conducted in patients and sponsored by pharmaceutical companies for new medicines recently approved in Europe.