BMJ, doi: 10.1136/bmj.39416.559942.BE, (Published 6 December 2007)

Editorials

Non-drug industry funded research

High cost and poor availability of drugs mean that important clinical questions remain unanswered

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In May 2004, the European Clinical Trials Directive came into force. The directive made it mandatory for all clinical drug trials to follow the good clinical practice guidance, and it fuelled existing concerns that financial and organisational constraints were making it almost impossible to conduct independent trials not funded by the drug industry. In the accompanying paper, Berendt and colleagues show that the decrease in the number of new clinical trials registered each year in Denmark began well before 2004, and the decrease was similar for independent and industry sponsored trials.¹ In 2006, two years after the enforcement of the EU directive, the number of independent trials actually increased. Similar results have been reported in Sweden, Norway, and Italy.² The consistency of these findings, despite differences in registration and classification systems, supports their validity and generalisability.

So can we feel reassured about the future of independent therapeutic research? Certainly, clinical . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Clinical Epidemiology Unit, National Cancer Research Institute, 16132 Genova, Italy, ² Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, National Cancer Research Institute

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Doctors and the drug industry

Fiona Godlee
BMJ 2008 336: 0. [Extract] [Full Text]

Effect of European Clinical Trials Directive on academic drug trials in Denmark: retrospective study of applications to the Danish Medicines Agency 1993-2006

Louise Berendt, Cecilia Håkansson, Karin Friis Bach, Kim Dalhoff, Per Buch Andreasen, Lene Grejs Petersen, Elin Andersen, and Henrik Enghusen Poulsen
BMJ 2008 336: 33-35. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

What influences how research is reported in the BMJ?

Alison Rodgers, et al.
bmj.com, 6 Jan 2008 [Full text]

"Clear winner" - depends on your viewpoint.

Hazel Thornton
bmj.com, 9 Jan 2008 [Full text]

Structural efforts are being put in place to favour independent research, but more is needed

Research and Development Committee, et al.
bmj.com, 18 Jan 2008 [Full text]