28^th January 2018, London – A pledge by British MPs to get tough on UK universities that fail to publish the results of clinical trials is a welcome move that may finally lead to more action from these institutions, according to Transparency International Health Initiative (TI Health).

In response to new data from TranspariMED, which found UK universities have failed to post the results of 1,671 clinical trials, the Chair of the Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee said they will be running an evidence session on this issue in the summer and they are “putting all universities and NHS trusts on notice” over clinical trial transparency.

TranspariMED also found 19 out of the 27 UK universities studied have failed to upload a single missing trial over the past two months. It follows a previous report from TI Health and TranspariMED that argued a failure to publish the results of clinical trials can lead to wasted public funds and potentially useless or even harmful medicines reaching the public.

Rachel Cooper, Director of Transparency International Health Initiative, said: 

“Transparency over clinical trial data is vital to ensure that the benefits and risks of medicines that patients purchase and are prescribed have been properly considered. The public must be able to trust the medical products they are taking are going to improve their health and likewise that public money is being used in the right way.”

“It is worrying that despite constant calls at all levels for more transparency, many universities are still ignoring these obligations. We’re grateful that the UK Parliament continues to take this issue seriously and will be cracking down on those that do not comply with clinical trial transparency.” 

“In the context of Brexit and uncertainty over the future regulation of medicines, UK universities have an added responsibility to ensure that their processes and procedures are robust and followed – where they are not there must be penalties for non-compliance that are enforced. Likewise universities need to promote and incentivise researchers to disclose their results, regardless of what those results may be.”  

***ENDS***

Contact:

Dominic Kavakeb
Dominic.kavakeb@transparency.org.uk
020 3096 7695
075 4596 5302