Head-to-head comparisons tend to favour sponsors'drugs

摘要

Head-to-head drug comparisons are more likely to favour a trial sponsor's drug than its comparator,a study published online this week has found (PLoS Medicine 2007;4:el84).Researchers examined 192 randomised controlled trials comparing a statin with another statin or with a non-statin drug.They found that the main factor associated with favourable outcomes of industry-sponsored research was the sponsorship.The finding may be a result,they suggest,of non-equivalent dosing in trials,publication bias,multiple reporting of favourable trials or failures to disclose funding for unfavourable studies.