First reviews are published that are based on the “totality of the evidence”

Scientists and medical publishers have heralded “a historic moment for open science” after a medical device company gave researchers unprecedented access to all the data they had on one of their products for independent evaluation.

The reviews were done by two independent teams using the same data. They both found that recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2), an orthobiological agent used in some surgeries to promote bone growth, shows little benefit in spinal fusion compared with iliac crest bone graft or other bone grafts, and that it may cause more harms.

The findings are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and are based on patient level data from clinical trials conducted by Medtronic, which were shared with researchers through the Yale University open data access (YODA) project.1 2

The data are now being made available to others who want to examine them to answer further scientific questions.

In an …