Data Stream
A+ on Reporting Report Card
Public reporting of clinical trial results – mandated by a 10-year-old
federal law – increased sharply in the last 2 years, according to a STAT
analysis. Unreported research data can theoretically compromise the
safety of human research and slow the pace of innovation, the report-
ers noted, but a greater push for transparency in science shows that
leaders in academic medicine are finally taking seriously the 2007 law.
Of more than 18,000 trials for which results should have been posted
to ClinicalTrials.gov between 2008 and 2017, trial sponsors had
disclosed 72 % of required results
to ClinicalTrials.gov, up from
58 % just 2 years earlier.
72 %
58 %
But First, Coffee
Refilling your coffee mug may help lengthen your life, according to a large meta-analysis of
201 studies evaluating coffee consumption and health outcomes published in The BMJ.
Drinking 3 to 4 cups of coffee per day, compared with
none, was associated with lower risks of:
Especially striking were the increases at major research universities, which
conduct most academic trials: Their reporting jumped from 58% to 77% of
eligible trials.
Source: STAT, “Faced with public pressure, research institutions step up reporting of clinical trial
results,” January 9, 2018.
New Year,
New Price Hikes
According to a review of drug
prices for 2018, analysts found
that pharmaceutical companies
raised U.S. list prices on dozens
of products.
Prices increased
for more than
all-cause
mortality:
↓17%
cardiovascular
mortality:
↓19%
cardiovascular
disease:
↓15%
incident
cancer:
↓18%
30
specialty
drugs.
Any potentially negative effects of higher coffee consumption were cancelled out when the
researchers adjusted outcomes for smoking and other risk factors. The “good” news: the
average prices increased
by 7.2%, meaning most
pharma companies kept
to self-imposed, single-
digit increases, following
backlash from consumers
and politicians.
Source: Poole R, Kennedy OJ, Roderick P, et al. Coffee consumption and health: umbrella review of meta-analyses of
multiple health outcomes. BMJ. 2017;359:j5024. Sources: Reuters, January 2, 2018;
FiercePharma, January 4, 2018.
22
ASH Clinical News
February 2018