Drug Trials Secrecy Putting Patients At Risk

Patients are being put at risk because of the secrecy of drug companies which refuse to publish the results of clinical trials, it was claimed today. New research suggests that data from more than a quarter of cancer trials may never reach the public domain. In many cases the results are hidden, either to stop commercial rivals learning too much or because the findings are negative, say experts. Experts from the Cancer Research UK charity today said they were worried about doctors and surgeons being hampered by the inaccessibility of trial data. Secrecy could also lead to the unnecessary duplication of research, wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds, they said.