Why Major Pharma Involvement Improves Clinical Trial Outcomes

(HealthDay News) — Clinical trials sponsored by [major drug companies] enrolled eight times as many patients as U.S.-government trials did between 2018 and 2022, new research shows. The study — conducted by researchers at Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle — underscores the lack of investment in federally funded studies and a growing reliance on industry research. The magnitude of the gap researchers identified took them by surprise. “We recognized that industry was playing an increasing role in cancer clinical research compared to decades ago,” said lead study author Joseph Unger, a health services researcher and biostatistician at Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle. “But we didn’t realize the difference was this dramatic.” The study, which relied on data from clinicaltrials.gov, looked at more than 26,000 cancer trials. Compared to 2008-2012, the share of clinical trial enrollments attributed to industry versus federal support more than doubled in adults and tripled in children. Federally funded studies provide demographic diversity, the study pointed out. The number of Black participants enrolled in government-supported research was three times that of industry-funded research. The findings were published Sept. 27 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The researchers noted that federally funded research looks beyond industry’s...