(Reuters)—Pharmaceutical companies have ramped up clinical trials in the past month, rebounding from a steep decline in activity following the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, though activity remains below pre-pandemic levels, according to new research shareS with Reuters. The research, which was prepared by clinical trial consulting firm Medidata, shows that new subjects entered trials…
Tainted Research Repeatedly Re-Used to Assess Drug Effectiveness
(Reuters Health)—A new study shows how fake news—specifically, information about scientific research that may be tainted by fraud—keeps getting spread through the medical literature, misleading doctors about the safety and effectiveness of the drugs they prescribe. At issue is the failure of medical journals to flag research that’s been identified by the U.S. Food and…
Can Anything Contain Drug Costs in the U.S.?
(Reuters Health)—The U.S., which spends more on drugs than any other country, might contain costs by limiting market exclusivity for brand name medicines and changing coverage requirements for government health plans, some doctors argue. Although brand-name drugs account for only 10% of all dispensed prescriptions in the U.S., they make up 72% of drug spending,…
GSK, Astra, J&J Link with Universities in New Drug Research Fund
LONDON (Reuters)—GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have joined with three leading British universities to create a new 40 million pounds ($57 million) fund backing early drug research. The Apollo Therapeutics Fund, which aims to improve the speed and potential of university research being translated into new medicines, is a further example of a trend…
NIH-Funded Trials Dip While Industry Trials Are on the Rise
(Reuters Health)—Every year since 2006 in the U.S., the number of clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has gone down, while the number of industry-funded trials has gone up, a new study shows. Analyzing the ClinicalTrials.gov database, researchers found that after trial registration became a requirement for publication in major scientific…
Drug Approvals Top 2014 High, but R&D Returns Still Struggle
LONDON (Reuters)—The number of new drugs approved in the U.S. this year has already topped last year’s 18-year high, yet large pharmaceutical companies are still struggling to get a decent return on their research dollars. In fact, returns on research and development (R&D) spending by the world’s top drug makers have fallen to just 4.2%,…
Drug Makers Inconsistent in Sharing Clinical Trial Data
(Reuters Health)—Drug companies are inconsistent about disclosing data related to clinical trials of new medicines, a new report says. Researchers examined publicly available data on clinical trials for 15 new medicines from 10 companies that were cleared for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012. Two of the companies disclosed all trials…
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