THE demand is simple: companies should publish all data from clinical trials, whatever the results, so the safety and efficacy of drugs can be evaluated on the basis of all available evidence.
But persuading companies is proving trickier. Last week, the American Medical Association called on the US government to establish a registry for all clinical trials in the country. And to force companies to register trials, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors wants all journals to refuse to publish any results from trials that were not registered at the outset.
Already, Merck has tried to take the moral high ground by backing the AMA鈥檚 plan. Except that Merck doesn鈥檛 want details of smaller trials to be routinely included 鈥� only the large, pivotal trials.
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Meanwhile, GlaxoSmithKline, which denies charges that it withheld data on its antidepressant Paxil (Seroxat), has said that it is creating a website containing clinical data. But only drugs already on the market will be included. This is 鈥渘ot what we鈥檝e called for鈥�, the AMA says.