Industry influence in evidence production

Abstract

In light of a number of recent drug development and marketing controversies, there is increasing public focus on the role of industry in determining how drugs are used.1–3 New methods that evaluate how funding has influenced the design, reporting, and synthesis of evidence from clinical trials have identified the breadth of industry involvement in evidence production. The downstream effects on public health remain difficult to quantify. In order to identify and mitigate the potential effects of any one type of trial sponsor, we argue that these new methods should now be used routinely and systematically, in a process we call evidence surveillance.