BMJ No 7109 Volume 315 Letters Saturday 13 August 1997
Pharmaceutical industry is invited to respond to amnesty for
unreported trialsSee p 622
Editor,
Alan Maynard and Karen Bloor are correct to call for regulation
of the pharmaceutical industry to ensure that all data from clinical
trials are made publicly available.(1) It is now well
established that underreporting of clinical trials is a potent source
of bias in the medical literature on the effectiveness of treatment and
that research by the pharmaceutical industry is associated with a low
publication rate (27%).(2, 3) The amnesty for unpublished
trials announced today in the editorial by Smith and Roberts provides
an opportunity for both non-industry and industry researchers, and the
Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry has been invited to
respond positively to the initiative.
Ian Roberts
Director
Child Health Monitoring Unit,
Institute of Child Health,
London WC1N 1EH
Ian.Roberts@ich.ucl.ac.uk
References
1 Maynard A, Bloor K. Regulating the pharmaceutical industry.
BMJ 1997;315:200-1. (26 July.)
2 Egger M, Davey Smith G. Misleading meta-analysis.
BMJ 1995;310:752-4.
3 Wise P, Drury M. Pharmaceutical trials in general practice: the
first 100 protocols. An audit by the clinical research ethics committee
of the Royal College of General Practitioners. BMJ
1996;313:1245-8.
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