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Study: Positive clinical trial results often correlate with pharma funding

Pharma Compliance Alert, June 13, 2007

A new study shows that in head-to-head clinical trials of drugs, drug-company funding appears to influence outcomes. After examining 192 published studies that all compared two cholesterol-lowering drugs, researchers at the University of California San Francisco found that if reported results favored the test drug, it was 20 times more that likely the drug's maker funded the study.

The study also found that if the conclusions or interpretation of the results favored the test drug, the trial was about 35 times more likely to be funded by its maker, rather than the maker of the comparison drug. According to the researchers, this finding is "striking" since the clinical trials' published conclusions reflect the impressions of the investigators.

The study authors say these results raise questions about the growing number of company-funded drug trials and their outcomes.

The study was published in the June 5 edition of PLos Medicine.

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