12 JUNE 2013

The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists has joined over 200 health sector associations and organisations from across Europe in calling for improved transparency and disclosure of clinical trial results.

Adding its signature to the AllTrials campaign EAHP President Dr Roberto Frontini said:
“Hospital pharmacists are intimately involved in the conduct of clinical trials all over Europe and therefore have a strong interest in seeing transparent reporting of trial results become a standard reality. We are therefore pleased to join with so many other like-minded organisations in the All Trials campaign and look forward to progress being made in this area in the context of the current European regulation which is currently the subject of scrutiny in the European Parliament.”

The AllTrials campaign calls for all clinical trials, past and present, to be registered, and the full methods and the results reported. It calls upon governments, regulators and research bodies to implement measures to achieve this.

The campaign cites an estimate from a 2010 systematic review that half of all the clinical trials that have been conducted and completed have never been published in academic journals, and trials with positive results are twice as likely to be published as others. The problem is considered to be common for industry and non-industry trials, internationally, at all stages of drug development, and for trials of all sizes.

Other organisations who have signed up to the campaign include the European Public Health Association, the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Health Action International, the European Patients Forum and the European Consumer Organisation. Individuals may also sign the AllTrials petition at www.alltrials.net

ENDS

For further information contact Richard Price, Policy & Advocacy Officer, richard.price[at]eahp[dot]eu, 00 322 741 6835 or 00 44 7895 292 076

NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. EAHP is an association of national organisations representing hospital pharmacists at European and international levels. More information about the EAHP and its history here.

2. The AllTrials campaign is an initiative of Bad Science, Sense About Science, the British Medical Journal, the Cochrane Collaboration, the James Lind Initiative and the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine.

3. A useful briefing note giving the background to the AllTrials campaign is available here: http://www.alltrials.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Missing-trials-briefing-note.pdf