Drug studies funded by the pharmaceutical industry have been repeatedly revealed as biased - and this publication bias is putting people’s health and lives at risk.
It’s a well-documented problem: industry-funded trials are more likely to produce a positive result than independently funded trials. When a for-profit, multi-billion dollar industry is in charge of evaluating their own drugs and devices, there’s inevitability a conflict of interest.
Big Pharma funds 60 percent of all clinical trials, and it takes full advantage of this power to persuade researchers and influence research institutions. Often, when industry-sponsored trials produce results indicating that a drug is dangerous or ineffective, it is simply withheld from the medical community and the public.
This is, quite literally, a matter of life and death for some people.
But for the pharmaceutical industry, it’s simply a matter of profit.
So we’re calling for greater transparency and better publication practices. This will take a united effort from researchers, journal publications, doctors and the public - so let’s start by collectively calling for a safer and honest drug-trialling system.
Tell the Department of Health: Ensure clinical trials are transparent and shared with the public!
More information
Sydney Morning Herald. 21 February 2017.
DrugWatch. 16 October 2016.