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Industry funders are usually involved in every stage of the clinical trials they support, and may try to downplay their involvement when trial results are reported, according to a study led by researchers in Denmark published Wednesday (October 3) in BMJ. The findings suggest that industry funders may be wielding greater influence over how trials are conducted and how results are published than currently realized.
“Industry employees and academic authors are involved in the design, conduct, and reporting of most industry funded trials in high impact journals,” write the authors in the paper. “However, data analysis is often conducted without academic involvement. Academics view the collaboration as beneficial, but some report loss of academic freedom.”
In a survey of 80 academics who had led clinical trials since 2014, only a third responded that the academic researchers alone had the final say on trial design. Although many ...
