Relationships with industry are common among investigators of randomised clinical trials. But studies investigating these relationships have been conflicting.
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‘More research is certainly needed to identify how industry funding and financial ties could influence trial results.’
So a team of US based researchers set out to investigate the association between financial ties of principal investigators and study outcomes in a random sample of 195 drug trials published in 2013. They focused on trials that examined the effectiveness of drugs, because these studies have a high impact on both clinical practice and healthcare costs.
More than half (58%) of principal investigators had financial ties to the drug industry - including travel expenses, honorariums, payment for advisory work, or stock ownership.
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Even after accounting for factors that may have affected the results, such as funding source and sample size, financial ties were still significantly associated with positive study outcomes.
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They stress that their analysis is observational and cannot be used to draw conclusions about causation, but say, given the importance of industry and academic collaboration in advancing the development of new treatments, "more thought needs to be given to the roles that investigators, policy makers, and journal editors can play in ensuring the credibility of the evidence base."
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They urge trial authors to share their data and participate in industry funded trials only if data are made publicly available - and suggest journals could help by rejecting research by authors who are unwilling to share their data and by penalising authors who fail to disclose financial ties. The role of sponsors, or companies with which authors have ties, in the research must also be transparent.
In the meantime, trials with industry funding or authors with financial ties "should be interpreted with caution until all relevant information is fully disclosed and easily accessible," they conclude.
Source-Eurekalert
