Do Pay Attention to the Data Behind the Curtain

Today, GSK announced it will part the curtain that previously obscured access to data from clinical trials.  In a move aimed at boosting transparency, GSK has pledged to make its clinical trial results available on a public website.  It has already published summaries of 4500 trials.

Now in a further, and unprecedented move, GSK will also seek to publish the results of all its clinical studies -- regardless of results -- in peer-reviewed journals. It will also create a system where researchers can access anonymous patient level data from clinical trials. This will enable researchers to examine data more closely and to combine data across studies to conduct further research. 

This is great.  Transparency is always good in my view.  It's nice to have a summary but even better to be able to see the raw data so you can do independent analysis and draw your own conclusions -- which may differ from those in a summary.  This is a step forward in openess and will put pressure on other Big Pharma peers to follow suit.

See Fierce Biotech and In the Pipeline for more details.

Posted by Bruce Lehr Oct 11th 2012.

Comments

[bruce lehr]

More on this story from PharmaGossip (Oct 18th) http://pharmagossip.blogspot.com/2012/10/glaxo-latest-move.html

[Fai]

This is a really good move. It help other pharma not to repeat some of the mistake that they did. Eventually, it will drive the cost down for pharma. Kudo for GSK!