Pharma-Funded Studies More Likely Positive

Meta-analyses of new cancer drugs and the clinicians conducting them are twice as likely to report positive results when these studies and authors are funded by the companies manufacturing these medications. Investigators at UC-San Francisco report these findings after evaluating 93 meta-analysis studies.

Eighty-one percent of the 21 studies with pharma-funded authors and 78% of the pharma funded studies reported positive results compared with only 48% of those studies or authors without pharma funding. Furthermore, those studies and authors with non-industry funding showed the lowest percentages of positive findings and the highest percentages of equivocal or frankly negative conclusions about the tested drugs.

The bottom line: the funding sources of studies and investigators could affect the outcome of the studies. They shouldn’t but they could. As with all scientific studies, the credibility gold standard is confirmation by subsequent investigations.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2806376

#funding #pharma #metaanalysis #credibility #oncology