AllTrials – PhRMA claims transparency risks damaging public health

Publishing information from clinical trials 'risks damaging public health and patient welfare' says the US pharmaceutical industry. The industry body Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) made the statement in a letter to Douglas Bell, the chief US trade negotiator for the free trade agreement between the European Union and the USA, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal. (TTIP is designed to increase trade between the EU and US by reducing barriers and harmonising laws covering everything from intellectual property to postal services. Most of the negotiations have been held behind closed doors.) In the letter, PhRMA says, 'Disclosure of companies’ non-public data submitted in clinical and pre-clinical dossiers and patient-level data risks damaging public health and patient welfare.' We wrote to Mr Bell to tell him that the claims made by PhRMA are not true ..."