Major UK non-commercial sponsors efforts to reduce research waste: a mixed methods study

ABSTRACT

This study provides a snapshot of the scale of legacy research waste in the UK. It assesses the current publication status of 145 clinical trials sponsored by ten major UK non-commercial sponsors that were completed or terminated in 2017. Following outreach to sponsors and short-term follow-up, 116/145 trials (80%) had fully reported results, and 11/145 trials (8%) had reported results in the grey literature. Results for 18/145 trials (12%) that enrolled 637 people remained completely unpublished as of early March 2023. Sponsors indicated that they plan to make public the results of 14/18 unreported trials. Our study had an impact on accelerating the reporting of some results, and seems likely to lead to future reductions in research waste. We propose three changes to UK Health Research Authority policies that could improve clinical trial reporting.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Clinical Protocols

https://osf.io/rh3m9

Funding Statement

This study was funded by HealthSense UK.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

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