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Descriptive survey of non-commercial randomised controlled trials in the United Kingdom, 1980-2002

BMJ 2003; 327 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.327.7422.1017 (Published 30 October 2003) Cite this as: BMJ 2003;327:1017
  1. Iain Chalmers (ichalmers{at}jameslindlibrary.org), coordinator1,
  2. Cath Rounding, coordinator2,
  3. Kate Lock, coordinator3
  1. 1UK Randomised Controlled Trial Registration Project, UK Cochrane Centre, Oxford OX2 7LG
  2. 2Medical Research Council and Medical Research Charities Subproject, UK Randomised Controlled Trial Registration Project
  3. 3Department of Health and NHS Subproject, UK Randomised Controlled Trial Registration Project
  1. Correspondence to: I Chalmers
  • Accepted 30 September 2003

Abstract

Objectives To describe the characteristics of randomised controlled trials supported by the main non-commercial sources of funding in the United Kingdom between 1980 and 2002.

DesignDescriptive survey.

SettingRandomised controlled trials funded by the Medical Research Council, NHS research and development programme, Department of Health, Chief Scientist Office in Scotland, and medical research charities.

Participants1464 randomised controlled trials supported by the main non-commercial sources of funding.

Results Support for randomised controlled trials by the main sources of non-commercial funding in the United Kingdom has fallen in recent years, without any concomitant increase in the sample sizes of these studies. Drug trials in a limited range of health problems have dominated among the studies supported by the Medical Research Council and medical research charities. Until recently, the NHS research and development programme supported randomised controlled trials of various healthcare interventions, in a wide range of health problems, but between 1999 and 2002 many of the subprogrammes that had commissioned trials were discontinued.

Conclusions The future of non-commercial randomised controlled trials in the United Kingdom has been threatened by the discontinuation or demise of national and regional NHS research and development programmes. Support also seems to be declining from the Medical Research Council and the medical research charities. It is unclear what the future holds for randomised controlled trials that address issues of no interest to industry but are of great importance to patients and practitioners.

Footnotes

  • Embedded Image Acknowledgments appear on bmj.com

  • Contributors IC conceived the project, sought funding, supervised the data collection and processing, and wrote the report. CR was principally responsible for the data collection, management, and analysis of trials funded by the Medical Research Council and medical research charities. KL was principally responsible for the data collection, management, and analysis of trials funded by the NHS, the Department of Health, and the Chief Scientist Office in Scotland. IC and CR will act as guarantors for the paper. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and are not necessarily the views or the policies of the Cochrane Collaboration.

  • Funding IC and KL were funded by the NHS research and development programme. CR was funded by the Medical Research Council.

  • Competing interests IC is employed on a part-time basis to help promote some of the objectives arising from the Clinical Trials for Tomorrow review. He is funded for this purpose by the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health.

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