The drug industry is largely ignoring a federal law requiring that thousands of medical studies be listed on a government database, federal research suggests. The Internet-based database, ClinicalTrials.gov, opened in 2000. It's not meant to be a comprehensive list, but any study of a treatment's effectiveness against a serious disease is supposed to be listed. However, in 2002, just 48 percent of industry-funded studies for cancer therapies alone were reported to the public database. In contrast, more than 90 percent of National Cancer Institute-funded studies were listed. Doctors recently learned that drug makers never published many studies where childhood antidepressant use failed, publicizing only positive results. This new research certainly makes you wonder what it is they are trying to hide.
ABC News July 6, 2004