Merck Has ‘Long-Standing Policy’ To Report Clinical Trial Results, Research Director Says
Merck has a "long-standing policy" to report the results of clinical trials that test the safety and effectiveness of medications, regardless of outcome, and the "suggestion that we do not fully report our study results is at odds with our policy and practice," Peter Kim, president of Merck Research Laboratories, writes in a New York Times letter to the editor. Kim writes in response to a May 31 Times article and June 1 editorial that raised questions about whether Merck and other pharmaceutical companies adequately report trial results. According to Kim, Merck often has published trial results that "were inconclusive or even unfavorable to the Merck drug," and the company has registered trials on ClinicalTrials.gov, an online database sponsored by NIH. Merck also plans to provide a "compound identification number" for each of the trials registered on the Web site and remains "committed to assuring researchers and the public that they can gain access to both positive and negative data" from trials sponsored by the company, Kim writes. He concludes, "Given its track record of publishing data, the implication that Merck has hidden data is unfair" (Kim, New York Times, 6/8).
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