Pharmaceutical Companies Agree to Share Data on Clinical Trials

Posted on June 10, 2010

Reuters reports that major drug manufacturers have agreed to share clinical trial data to help speed up the development of medicines that may help cure diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The database the drugmakers will share include information from over 4,000 patients who went through clinical trials.

The database, a public/private partnership to be announced on Friday, will give academic and industry researchers worldwide access to information from more than 4,000 patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

Bringing the data together, rather than keeping pieces of it within each drug company, will give scientists a larger amount of information on how the diseases progress and how they differ in various patients.

Backers hope the approach will jump start research into treatments for some of the toughest and most common brain disorders.

The database is being coordinated by the Coalition Against Major Diseases. Some of the drugmakers in the CAMD include Pfizer Inc, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi-Aventis.


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