CLINICAL TRIALS PORTAL LAUNCHED BY IFPMA

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) has launched an Internet search portal that provides a centralized location to access clinical trial registries and databases worldwide.

The IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal is the first Internet search engine constructed specifically to link to online information made available by the pharmaceutical industry about clinical trials worldwide, the trade group said. Developed in conjunction with IBM, the website currently contains more that 250,000 links to clinical trial-related information. The group announced in May it was developing the portal.

The website provides access to a wide array of resources, including individual pharmaceutical company sites, sites run by third parties working on behalf of these companies, pharmaceutical industry association resources and government sites such as the National Library of Medicine's www.clinicaltrials.gov. Other online clinical trial information resources, such as the European Union's planned Europharm facility, may be linked to the site as they become available, IFPMA said.

"The portal was conceived primarily with patients and treating doctors in mind, not regulators. However, greater transparency in provision of clinical trial information may influence the environment in which regulators work," Guy Willis, IFPMA's communications director, told FDAnews. "While trial results will only be available online after regulators have made their decisions, this will nevertheless provide patients and doctors with access to key data used to inform regulatory decisions. This trend may make regulators' decisions subject to more active and informed public scrutiny."
The portal can be accessed at http://www.ifpma.org/clinicaltrials.