More trial results are being posted to public database, but data quality is lacking, report finds

A new report examining the first decade of study results being reported on ClinicalTrials.gov finds that there has been slow progress among drug companies and academic research centers in reporting the results of human studies, but the quality of the data may still present a larger problem.

When the database was expanded through federal law in 2008 to accommodate clinical trial results, an average of two trials per week posted results, even though 79 trials were completed every week. In 2018, that figure rose to 68 trials with results posted out of 135 completed trials, according to the research, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“It’s a bit disappointing that it’s not higher,” said Georgina Humphreys, clinical data sharing officer for Wellcome Open Research in the U.K., who was not involved in the