Drug companies could be forced to publish secret research to stop them hiding dangerous and unknown side-effects

  • Under new European laws, firms would have to share results of clinical trials
  • These could then be analysed by independent scientists
  • Firms currently only release a small amount of research data
  • Move could also highlight if patients and customers have been fooled by placebos or drugs that have not been scientifically proven to work

By Mario Ledwith for the Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Pharmaceutical companies could be forced to publish secret research into how drugs are created under new European laws, potentially revealing information about dangerous and unknown side-effects.

The rules would mean that some of the world’s most powerful drugs companies would have to share the results of clinical trials which could then be analysed by independent scientists.

Experts said that the move could also highlight if patients and customers have been fooled by placebos or drugs that have not been scientifically proven to work.

Drugs companies currently only release a small amount of their research data from clinical trials, with critics claiming that negative results are only half as likely to be published.

The proposed rules would mean that some of the world's most powerful drugs companies would have to share the results of clinical trials which could then be analysed by independent scientists

The proposed rules would mean that some of the world's most powerful drugs companies would have to share the results of clinical trials which could then be analysed by independent scientists

But the disclosure rules being drawn up by the European Medicines Agency, an EU body, have been met with resistance from pharmaceutical companies.

They claim that some of their information might be misinterpreted, potentially sparking a significant health scare around the use of a particular the drug.

In the last three years, 26 drugs companies have racked up fines of more than £7billion for acting dishonestly.

Britain’s largest pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline announced earlier this year that it would support a move for such legislation by publishing the results of all its clinical trials.

The move followed fierce criticism of the company after it was given a £1.9billion fine in the US in 2012, in part for withholding safety data about Avandria, its best-selling diabetes drug.

News of law comes as a leaked message from the head of a leading pharmaceutical industry body to company bosses revealed that patient groups would be used to try to block amendments to the clinical trials directive.

The email was sent by European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations director general Richard Bergström to the directors and legal departments at companies including Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline.

In the email, seen by The Guardian, he says that patient groups will be ‘mobilised’ to express concerns about ‘the risk to public health by non-scientific re-use of data’.

Drugs companies currently only release a small amount of their research data from clinical trials, with critics claiming that negative results are only half as likely to be published

Drug companies currently only release a small amount of their research data from clinical trials, with critics claiming that negative results are only half as likely to be published

But campaigners said that the groups – which are often funded by companies – are a ‘front for the pharmaceutical industry’.

Tim Reed, from campaign grouop Health Action International, said: ‘It’s incredibly ironic that this is a transparency initiative and we’ve now got clear indications that the pharmaceutical industry is ready to use patient organisations to fight their corner.

He told the Guardian: ‘It underlines the fact that patient groups who are in the pay of the pharmaceutical industry will go into battle for them. There’s a hidden agenda here.

‘Patient groups get traction because they are assumed to represent the voice of the suffering. But industry uses them to say we’re not going to get innovative medicines if the industry is deterred from investing by having to be transparent about their clinical trials.’

The EFPIA said: ‘Knowing that some people want all data to be made available to everyone, EFPIA is engaging with stakeholders to share concerns with harmful ‘re-use’ of data.

‘We will engage not only with patient groups, but also with the scientific community.’

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