Publish all trial results within a year or face disciplinary action, BMA says

The BMA has backed mandatory publication of all clinical trial results, irrespective of whether they are positive or negative, and disciplinary action for doctors who elect not to publish data.

Representatives at the association’s annual meeting in Edinburgh this week passed a motion insisting that all trials relating to drugs and other therapeutic interventions be registered and their results made available within one year of completion.

Selective non-publication of “unflattering” trial data represented research misconduct and merited referral of the doctors involved to the General Medical Council, doctors agreed. …