Medical research waste in Nordic countries: Unreported clinical trials in Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden

"According to the World Health Organisation, the results of every interventional clinical trial should be made public within 12 months of trial completion. Non-publication of clinical trial results wastes public money, harms patients and undermines public health. Medical studies that are invisible benefit neither patients nor science: they are research waste. Institutions that fail to ensure that clinical trial results are made public violate medical research ethics and betray the trust of trial participants. This TranspariMED report is based on the results of a large academic study covering 2,113 clinical trials completed by 54 institutions in the five Nordic countries between 2016 and 2019. For details on the study’s methodology and numerous additional metrics, please see the preprint. Key findings A total of 475 clinical trials completed in Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden during 2016-2019 have never made their results public in any form. In total, according to public registry data, 83,903 people participated in those trials. • Across all five countries, 22% of all clinical trial results were never made public. Norway (29% wasted) performed worst, followed by Finland (25% wasted). Danish institutions conducted the largest number of trials and today are responsible for the largest number of missing results. • Only 27% of all trials results were made public within 12 months (either on registries or in journals). Even two years after completion, only around half of results had been published. • There are large differences in reporting performance between institutions. The University of Oslo and the University of Southern Denmark were the strongest performers among major institutions with 91% of results reported. The worst major performer was Haukeland University Hospital in Norway, with only 50% of results reported...."