Clinical trials: regulators’ inaction has left EU registry “riddled with inaccurate and missing data”

BMJ 2021; 374 doi: doi:10.1136/bmj.n1707 (Published 05 July 2021), Cite this as: BMJ 2021;374:n1707 

 Nearly 6000 clinical trial results are currently missing from the European trial registry, despite transparency rules requiring countries to upload results within 12 months of trial completion, a report has found. 

 Researchers from the University of Oxford said the findings show that medicines regulators in the 14 European countries included in the report have failed to ensure that important data on new drugs and vaccines are rapidly and consistently made public. 

 The report, published 5 July, found that the largest gaps were in Italy (1221 results missing), Spain (884), the Netherlands (839), France (698), and Germany (554).

Identifying the most potent and effective treatment of Friedreich ataxia

Brunel University London, Dr Mark Pook. 

This project aims to identify the most potent and effective known drugs to investigate treatment of the inherited disease, Friedreich ataxia, motivating pharma to fund more clinical trials. 

This international collaborative project between the Cortopassi, Giunti and Pook laboratories aims to test a number of differently-acting drug compounds to identify the most potent and effective known drugs to address Friedreich ataxia.