Clinical trial data is some of the most important information in Drug Discovery, after all it is humans we are looking to treat! However analysis of 30 leading institutions found that just 17% of study results had been posted online. The 30 universities surveyed are those that sponsor the most clinical trials in the EU. Fourteen of these institutions had failed to publish a single results summary.

The Universities that have failed to publish a single trial result are highlighted in red in the table below.

The contrast between the UK universities and the rest of Europe could not be starker,

UK universities in the survey performed significantly better than those in the rest of Europe. The University of Oxford and King’s College London had both published 93% of the trial results due on the register, and University College London had posted 81%.

According to the report every single medical university in the UK is currently working hard to upload missing clinical trial results onto the EU registry, and in many cases onto other registries such as ISRCTN and the US registry Clinicaltrials.gov as well. This demonstrates that where there is a will, there is a way.

If we remove the UK Universities from the analysis the level of reporting falls to a pitiful 7%.

Lack of transparency in clinical trials harms patients. The timely posting of summary results is an ethical and scientific obligation.