AMA's efforts to publish results of all studies are long overdue

[Guest guest]

A public drug registry? It's about time

AMA's efforts to publish results of all studies are long overdue

By Arthur Caplan, Ph.D.

COMMENTARY

June 22, 2004

.... On June 17, the AMA voted to ask the federal government to create a

registry that would make publicly available the results of all drug

experiments conducted on humans. This means that anyone could look and see

what drugs have worked, which ones are duds and which ones are known to have

possibly dangerous side effects...

Such a move would help solve the problem of limited access to accurate drug

information in the United States, an issue that stems from several sources.

First off, academic researchers have a hard time getting research published

if it does not show positive results. Negative studies don't get past most

journal editors. Even if experiments that don't pan out do get published in

the academic literature, you are not likely to hear about it...

More troubling than the problems academic researchers have in getting

negative results published is the behavior of private companies that sponsor

studies.

Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies sponsor the overwhelming majority

of late-stage tests of new drugs and medical devices. Even if private drug

companies know there are negative results - or even injuries and deaths -

associated with their products, they are under no obligation to make that

information known to you or the medical profession. The companies consider

this data proprietary. They have lobbied to ensure that only the Food and

Drug Administration gets this information and, even then, some drug

companies simply prematurely squash studies they don't think will reflect

favorably on their product...

continued at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5269721/