Screw turns on secretive drug firms

[CShine]

Editors of America's leading medical journals are considering a plan to force drug companies to disclose trials that shed unfavourable light on their products. The move would follow a resolution passed on Tuesday by the American Medical Association, the US's largest doctors' group, urging the Government to create a database in which all clinical drug trials performed in the US would be registered at the outset of the trials.

The AMA said it was taking the action because of concerns that sponsorship of tests by the drug industry was affecting quality and that medical journals were tending to spotlight those tests with positive findings. A report by the AMA this year found that researchers were reluctant to submit their studies unless the results were positive or significant, believing that journals would not publish them otherwise.

"We are concerned that this pattern of publication distorts the medical literature, affecting the validity and findings of systematic reviews, the decisions of funding agencies and, ultimately, the practice of medicine," said Dr Joseph Heyman, a member of the AMA's board of trustees.

The move will likely put increasing pressure on companies to make drug trials more transparent. Leading medical publications are also considering a proposal that would require drug firms to register drug tests at the outset as a prerequisite to having their results published. The group includes The Journal of the American Medical Association, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet and The Annals of Internal Medicine.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/16/1087244981408.html?oneclick=true