Saturday, October 01, 2005

Trade Secrets

There is a real issue here. Somthing smells!

Insider is looking into it. Big Pharma should beware!

http://slate.msn.com/id/2126918/

Some clinical trial data are considered "trade secrets," or commercially protected information, and thus are exempted from release under the Freedom of Information Act. Since the FDA doesn't routinely perform comprehensive reviews of drugs once they are on the market, when uncommon but deadly side effects tend to be picked up, independent researchers are often the only hope of catching such flaws. But the trade-secrets rule can leave researchers in the dark about the most worrisome data—negative results that support a failed application to market a drug.

No comments: