Rules on reporting trials must be better enforced, say health integrity groups

Unregulated reporting of clinical trials opens the door to fraud and corruption, undermining medical advances and public health objectives, a report has warned.

The report,1 by a consortium of “health integrity organisations,” urges governments to enforce current rules to ensure that patients, doctors, and scientists can access the full results of all clinical trials.

The consortium includes Transparency International Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, TranspariMED, Cochrane, and the Collaboration for Research Integrity and Transparency at Yale University.

Till Bruckner, lead author of the study and founder of TranspariMED, told The BMJ that the report explains the problem of hidden and misreported trials in a language that policy makers can understand and, crucially, provides concrete recommendations that they can act …