Government pledges to increase transparency of clinical research

The UK government and the Health Research Authority, the agency responsible for the governance of clinical trials, are developing a strategy to enhance transparency around such research.

Nicola Blackwood, the health minister who is responsible for overseeing the HRA, told the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee that the government and the agency were discussing measures to improve the transparency of clinical trials. The HRA, she said on 22 February, would consult widely on the topic later this year, before finalising a new strategy.

Blackwood was giving the government’s response to a committee inquiry into research transparency that concluded in October 2018. The committee’s report had warned that non-reporting of clinical trial guidance was threatening human health and research integrity, and recommended that the HRA introduce a system of sanctions to increase transparency in clinical trials. It also said the HRA needed funding to establish a national programme to audit clinical-trial transparency.