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CMW News: Study shows drug companies report biased test results

Case Management Weekly, December 24, 2008

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A study done by the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) says physicians may not be getting complete and accurate information about medications before prescribing them to patients.

Drug companies are required to test their medications on volunteer patients and provide the results to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before approval, but the researchers at UCSF claim the results are inaccurately portrayed.

The study investigated 164 drug trials involving about 1,500 patients during a two-year period. The researchers also investigated the reports published in medical journals by the drug companies, as well as those that remained unpublished.

The results of the study show that some important information from the drug trials was omitted or skewed to appear more positive.

The results of the study are published in PLoS Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Public Library of Science.

Sources: The San Francisco Chronicle, PLoS Medicine

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