Sept. 30, 2005 – A recent study found that when pharmaceutical companies fund reports about drug trials, the medicine in question is more often given a high rating than when the reports are funded by government or nonprofit sources. The study focused on reports that combine the results of several drug trials.
In an analysis of reports about hypertension medication conducted from 1996 to 2002, University of Washington at Seattle medical resident Veronica Yank found that drug-company-sponsored studies reported a 93 percent approval rate. Government- and academic-funded studies reported a success rates hovering around 79 percent.
Yank also found that fewer than half of industry-sponsored research papers reporting positive results contained data backing up the assertions.
A review of Yank?s study was published in the peer-reviewed science journal, Nature, which described Yank as an expert on medical publications.
Yank presented her findings to the Fifth International Congress on Peer Review and Biomedical Publication in Chicago on Saturday, September 17.
