Results of Almost One in Three Large Clinical Trials Do Not Get Published

Nearly a third of large, randomized clinical trials registered with ClinicalTrials.gov do not get published in scientific journals with the website also not display the results of around 78 percent of the unpublished trials, a new analysis of over 585 trials revealed. As a result, nearly 300,000 people who were enrolled in the 171 unpublished trials "were exposed to the risks of trial participation without the societal benefits which accompany the dissemination of trial results," said Christopher W. Jones, MD, a former resident physician at University of North Carolina School of Medicine who is now an attending physician at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, N.J. and lead author of the study published in the Oct. 29, 2013 issue of the British Medical Journal.

Non-publication of clinical trials has been a controversial issue in recent years. In particular, industry-funded clinical trials – such as those paid for by pharmaceutical companies – have come under fire on allegations that such trials are often not published when the results are not favorable to the drug or other product being tested.



Source-Eurekalert