Clinical Silence

A study has shown that less than half of the outcomes of some clinical trials are publicly available.

abby olena
| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

FLICKR, E-MAGINE ARTIt’s already known that much clinical trial data doesn’t see the light of day—particularly when the outcomes of the trial do not reflect positively on the drug in question. In a study published this week (October 8) in PLOS Medicine, researchers have shown that, even for studies where results are publicly accessible, less than half of the relevant patient outcomes (positive or negative) are available, as compared to more complete information found in unreleased clinical study reports (CSRs).

Researchers from the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Healthcare in Germany analyzed a group of 101 clinical trials completed between 2006 and 2011. Eighty-six of the trials had publicly available sources, like registry reports or publications, and the researchers obtained CSRs for each trial from the sponsoring drug companies. The research team compared the benefit and harm outcomes reported in the available materials and the CSRs and found that “the CSRs provided complete information on a considerably higher proportion of outcomes (86%) than the combined publicly available sources (39%),” they wrote.

Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford in the U.K., told Nature that he was not surprised by the paper’s findings. “It’s becoming obvious that what’s ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • abby olena

    Abby Olena, PhD

    As a freelancer for The Scientist, Abby reports on new developments in life science for the website.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo
New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

Sino

Products

Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Explore a Concise Guide to Optimizing Viral Transduction

A Visual Guide to Lentiviral Gene Delivery

Takara Bio
Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

Twist Bio