May 2017 Study Abstract
Objective
To evaluate nonpublication rates among trials of new successful and unsuccessful neurological drugs – A Systematic Review.
Methods
‘Licensed’ drugs consisted of all novel agents receiving FDA licensure 2005 to 2012 inclusive in seven neurological disorders. ‘Stalled’ drugs included all experimental agents tested in the same domains that had at least one completed phase III trial in the same timeframe but failed to receive FDA approval. Trials of these drugs were included in our sample if their primary outcome collection occurred before October 1, 2010. We determined the publication status of eligible trials using searches of clinicaltrials.gov, Google Scholar, PubMed, Embase, sponsor websites, and direct electronic query of trial contacts and sponsors. The primary outcome was time to journal publication (or results reporting in other media) after study completion.
Results
The adjusted hazard ratio for publication was 1.79 (95% confidence interval 1.20 to 2.67) in favour of licensed drugs. Based on the criteria for nonpublication in this report, 14,092 and 33,882 volunteers participated in unpublished trials of licensed and stalled neurological drugs, respectively. Result data were not publicly available in any form for 10% (16/163) and 46% (94/203) of trials of licensed and stalled drugs, respectively.
Interpretation
Results of trials for stalled drugs are heavily underreported. This deprives research and care communities of evidence about pathophysiology, drug class effects, and the value of surrogate endpoints in trials.
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- Image credit Joel Kramer.