Cochrane signs up to AllTrials initiative to campaign for registration and reporting of all clinical trials | The Cochrane Collaboration

"The Cochrane Collaboration, the international not-for-profit organization that produces systematic reviews of healthcare evidence and the largest database of randomized controlled trials, published online in The Cochrane Library, has today formalized its commitment to the AllTrials: All Trials Registered | All Results Reported initiative to campaign for the registration and reporting of all clinical trials. The AllTrials campaign aims to draw attention to the crisis of unreported trial data. Hundreds of thousands of clinical trials have been conducted from which no or limited data have been made available; data critical to enabling doctors and regulators to make informed decisions about which treatments to use and fund. This is a serious problem for evidence-based healthcare researchers including The Cochrane Collaboration, because all the evidence about a treatment is needed to understand its risks and benefits. Without a complete picture of trial results available, information is lost; bad treatment decisions may be made; financial investment into ineffective treatments are approved by governments and regulators; opportunities for better and more effective treatment are missed; and trials are repeated unnecessarily, duplicating effort and wasting resources. AllTrials was launched in January 2013 by Ben Goldacre, bestselling author, broadcaster and medical doctor, whose exposé on scientific inaccuracy Bad Science (2008) reached #1[1] in the UK paperback non-fiction charts; along with the charity Sense About Science; the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine in Oxford; the James Lind Initiative; and the BMJ. In the three months since its inception, AllTrials has gathered more than 47,000 signatures for its petition calling on governments, regulators and research bodies to implement trial registration and reporting measures; as well as the support of hundreds of organizations and institutions working in research, patient advocacy and health care. The Cochrane Collaboration was one of the earliest organizations to offer support, and to further demonstrate its commitment to the goals of the AllTrials initiative, has today formalized its involvement as one of the initiative’s principal supporters and organizers."