ClinicalTrials.gov
It's about time. For years, information about clinical trials, especially those designed to study a prospective or marketed medical product, was kept under close wraps. It is understandable that a company investing tens-of-millions of dollars to develop a potential drug to treat psoriasis or a new surgical device would not want to divulge details of a clinical trial that proved its product to be less effective than a competitor's. Most companies wouldn't want to risk discouraging investors by publicizing a failed clinical trial. But the spotlight on clinical trials is gradually being intensified, due to pressure from medical journal editors, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, academic medical centers, and medical societies.
One such source of exposure is the ClinicalTrials.gov web site. Its purpose is to provide a location at which certain standard information about clinical trials may be published. The site, which consists mainly of a searchable database of clinical trials, currently contains over 20,000 listings. It allows the clinical trials to be browsed by condition (such as diabetes or cancer or autism), by sponsor (the National Institutes of Health, companies, universities), or by status (recruitment closed or open). It also is set up to be searched by specific parameters such as the study's location or eligible age range of participants.
While not anywhere near all clinical trials are listed, ClinicalTrials.Gov provides an obvious information resource to consumers and researchers. More than that, however, this site, along with requirements by certain medical journals and sponsors (such as the National Institutes of Health) that clinical trials be published, is a first step toward assuring that the studies are reported accurately and do not simply disappear into thin air without being reported. Even if a clinical trial does not demonstrate that a particular treatment is beneficial -- perhaps especially if a particular treatment is demonstrated to be detrimental -- it is important for medical researchers, clinicians and patients to know what has been learned. Otherwise time, effort and resources are wasted and people are put at unnecessary risk testing an idea that has already proven to be a bad one. I foresee the day when all clinical trials, regardless of who sponsors or conducts them, will be required to be posted from the time they are approved to begin all the through the publication of results. And that... would be a good thing.
-Joe
Related Topics: Clinical Trials, Clinical Trial Questions
One such source of exposure is the ClinicalTrials.gov web site. Its purpose is to provide a location at which certain standard information about clinical trials may be published. The site, which consists mainly of a searchable database of clinical trials, currently contains over 20,000 listings. It allows the clinical trials to be browsed by condition (such as diabetes or cancer or autism), by sponsor (the National Institutes of Health, companies, universities), or by status (recruitment closed or open). It also is set up to be searched by specific parameters such as the study's location or eligible age range of participants.
While not anywhere near all clinical trials are listed, ClinicalTrials.Gov provides an obvious information resource to consumers and researchers. More than that, however, this site, along with requirements by certain medical journals and sponsors (such as the National Institutes of Health) that clinical trials be published, is a first step toward assuring that the studies are reported accurately and do not simply disappear into thin air without being reported. Even if a clinical trial does not demonstrate that a particular treatment is beneficial -- perhaps especially if a particular treatment is demonstrated to be detrimental -- it is important for medical researchers, clinicians and patients to know what has been learned. Otherwise time, effort and resources are wasted and people are put at unnecessary risk testing an idea that has already proven to be a bad one. I foresee the day when all clinical trials, regardless of who sponsors or conducts them, will be required to be posted from the time they are approved to begin all the through the publication of results. And that... would be a good thing.
-Joe
Related Topics: Clinical Trials, Clinical Trial Questions
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