Be open about drug failures to speed up research

Enrica Alteri and Lorenzo Guizzaro. Nature 563, 317-319 (2018) doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-07352-7

COMMENT 13 NOVEMBER 2018

Access to evidence from disappointing drug-development programmes advances the whole scientific process, explain Enrica Alteri and Lorenzo Guizzaro.
To speed up progress, companies must be more forthcoming with their data and thinking, and regulators must find ways to help them with this. The ultimate goal is to allow broader access to data from drug-development programmes and to enable faster learning by the entire research community.
We hope that this project (Alzheimer’s treatments) leads to similar efforts in other diseases that are difficult to treat. We owe it to the public and to patients to ensure that R&D efforts continue to move towards greater transparency.

Be open about drug failures to speed up research