Public information on US clinical trials is inadequate

In the United States, where it is mandatory to register clinical trials for serious or life threatening diseases, many such trials are not listed in any publicly available trials register. Manheimer and Anderson (p 528) used major US trial registers to search for information on 33 phase III trials of drugs known to be under investigation for prostate and colon cancer: about 34% were not identified in any of the registers. The authors conclude that, despite the existence of hundreds of predominantly online registers of drug trials, information is incomplete, with non-standardised language, and is unlikely to meet the needs of clinicians and others.

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Relevant Article

Survey of public information about ongoing clinical trials funded by industry: evaluation of completeness and accessibility

Eric Manheimer and Diana Anderson
BMJ 2002 325: 528-531. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]