House of Commons Committee to inquire into clinical trials and disclosure of data

[Michael Power]

Hi

 

I guess you have all seen Ben Goldacre’s post in his Bad Science blog:

 

“the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee have just announced that they will now conduct a formal inquiry into missing trial data. Full details are posted below, and a briefing on the basics of this ongoing problem can be found at the bottom of this post.”

 

http://www.badscience.net/2012/12/win-parliamentary-sci-tech-committee-announces-official-inquiry-into-missing-trial-data/

 

The Committee seeks written submissions on the following matters:

1. Do the European Commission’s proposed revisions to the Clinical Trials Directive address the main barriers to conducting clinical trials in the UK and EU?

2. What is the role of the Health Research Authority (HRA) in relation to clinical trials and how effective has it been to date?

3. What evidence is there that pharmaceutical companies withhold clinical trial data and what impact does this have on public health?

4. How could the occurrence and results of clinical trials be made more open to scrutiny? Who should be responsible?

5. Can lessons about transparency and disclosure of clinical data be learned from other countries?

 

I plan to make a submission on item 4, and would welcome your comments on the attached draft.

 

Season’s greetings!

 

Michael