Did Pharmaceutical Companies Withhold Information In Clinical Trials?

Doctors say that without the full information from clinical trials, they struggle to make an informed decision on drug prescriptions. In the United Kingdom, concern has stemmed from the clinical trials of the drug Tamiflu, the results of which have not been fully published. Still, the country’s Department of Health continued to spend nearly 425 million pounds on the drug. Because of the lack of information from clinical trials, doctors don’t agree on how Tamiflu should be used or prescribed to patients.

“This is of extreme concern to this committee. The department of Health and Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency [MHRA] must make sure, prospectively and retrospectively, that clinical trials are registered and the full methods and results of all trials are available for independent wider scrutiny by doctors and researchers,” said Richard Bacon, a member of the UK committee looking at the drug. “Research suggests that the probability of completed trials being published is roughly 50%. And trials which gave a favorable verdict are about twice as likely to be published as trials giving unfavorable results. There is still a lack of consensus over how well the antiviral medicine Tamiflu, stockpiled for use in an influenza pandemic, actually works.”

Doctor Ben Goldacre in the UK has created a campaign called “All Trials” to help improve transparency in clinical trials and over 130 patient advocacy groups have signed on. Campaigns like All Trials have been successful in raising awareness, but drug companies are continuing to lobby against any legislative changes to clinical transparency in the US and EU.

Source:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/05/scandal-drugs-trials-withheld-doctors-tamiflu