Research news: "Publication bias" seen in drug studies

The News:
"Publication bias" seen in drug studies
By Rob WatersBloomberg News
Article Last Updated: 01/16/2008 11:13:35 PM MST
Studies of antidepressants that concluded the medicines were effective were more likely to be published in medical journals than studies showing failed results, according to researchers.
The study compared published research on 12 medicines with reviews of the same drugs by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The analysis found that 94 percent of published research showed positive results, while FDA reviewers found just half of studies, published and unpublished, were positive.
Many doctors rely on medical journals to keep abreast of research on the medications they prescribe. Researchers and drug-safety advocates contend that so-called publication bias — the tendency for articles that get published to reflect chiefly positive findings about drugs and medical devices — gives doctors and patients a distorted view of their value.
"We know publication bias exists," said Jeffrey Drazen, editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, which published the study. The article "shows that what's reported is really a much more rosy situation than actually exists."

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in The New England Journal of Medicine.