AllTrials: Many Public Clinical Trial Sponsors Don’t Require Results Be Published

Many noncommercial clinical trial funders lack adequate research transparency, according to an audit by transparency group AllTrials published in JAMA.

Analysts with the University of Oxford’s Evidence-Based Medicine Datalab analyzed transparency policies at the top 18 philanthropic and public sponsors of clinical research and found that only eight had policies requiring the results be published. Only nine required that studies be registered.

Researchers also found that four funders included specific timelines for posting summary results, while only six offered technical or financial resources to support individual patient data (IPD) sharing. Only two sponsors required IPD sharing.