Physicians aren't as quick to buy into drug trial outcomes funded by pharmaceutical companies, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
For the study, researchers surveyed 269 board-certified internists, who were presented with abstracts of clinical trials of three hypothetical drugs. The trials had high, medium or low methodologic rigor and had funding from a pharmaceutical company, the National Institutes of Health or neither.
Results from the surveys showed physicians are highly critical of trials with low-rigor methodologies and are more willing to prescribe drugs from high-rigor trials. In addition, physicians are more critical of trials with disclosures of industry funding. Specifically, physicians were twice as likely to prescribe drugs from NIH-funded trials than industry-funded trials.
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For the study, researchers surveyed 269 board-certified internists, who were presented with abstracts of clinical trials of three hypothetical drugs. The trials had high, medium or low methodologic rigor and had funding from a pharmaceutical company, the National Institutes of Health or neither.
Results from the surveys showed physicians are highly critical of trials with low-rigor methodologies and are more willing to prescribe drugs from high-rigor trials. In addition, physicians are more critical of trials with disclosures of industry funding. Specifically, physicians were twice as likely to prescribe drugs from NIH-funded trials than industry-funded trials.
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