Top Medical Journals Demand New Transparency in Drug Trials
Sep 20th, 2004 • Posted in: NewsWASHINGTON
The world’s top medical journals last week signed on to a growing campaign to increase the transparency of drug testing, saying they will tighten publishing guidelines to require advance registration of all drug trials.
Editors at the medical world’s premier publications — the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet, and the New England Journal of Medicine among them — announced the new measure last week.
The journals, which have been criticized for skewing both doctors’ prescriptions and public health by publishing only flattering studies, say they will no longer cover drug trials unless the goals, timeline, and funding source for each and every test is made public beforehand.
“Honest reporting begins with revealing the existence of all clinical studies, even those that reflect unfavorably on a research sponsor’s product,” the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, which represents the journals, wrote in a joint editorial.
The new effort follows charges by the state of New York that GlaxoSmithKline suppressed data linking its popular antidepressant Paxil to heightened rates of suicidal thoughts in teens.
While Glaxo denied wrongdoing and settled the suit last month for $2.5 million, the move did little to appease critics, who have continued pushing for mandatory openness instead of the voluntary guidelines backed by industry.
Congress has recently threatened to adopt laws opening drug trials up to greater public scrutiny, reported the Los Angeles Times.
Industry representatives say sufficient transparency already exists and that publicizing drug trials so early in the development process would unfairly jeopardize the funds that firms invest in research.
Early warning “could put at risk the competitive edge of a company, and ultimately that could impact the innovation of these companies,” Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America executive Caroline Loew complained to the Times.
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