Bias in Drug Trials

Lisa Bero, Professor, School of Pharmacy, UCSF

What does "FDA approved" really mean - and how can we make sure that the medicine we take is more helpful than harmful? How do we know that a new drug is better than an older, less expensive drug? Drug companies do trials, and each company's trials might show that its drug is best. After approval, drug trial results are expected to appear in peer-reviewed journals, reporting all outcomes. In a study of papers published for trials from 2001 and 2002, it was found that many results were still not published five years after FDA approval. Bero will discuss the implications of incomplete and biased information in medical journals for drug use in the United States.

This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on February 4, 2009.