Opinion: Lost opportunities from FDA, NIH inaction when sponsors fail to report clinical trial results
Americans are learning a thing or two about clinical trials as they watch the tense, televised push-pull between President Trump promoting a drug combination for Covid-19 based on skimpy, preliminary clinical trial data and Dr. Anthony Fauci promoting caution about the combination. Fortunately, the federal government provides a handy resource for navigating such disputes, ClinicalTrials.gov, where drug makers and other sponsors of clinical trials must report their results.
The Food and Drug Administration bases its decisions largely on the results of such clinical trials, which reveal how effective or safe a drug or device is compared to existing options or placebos. But that decision-making machinery can be thrown off when trial sponsors don’t have to share the results of all of their trials.
