When a bearded dude at a Brooklyn coffee house says he's shopping his novel around to agents, no one expects to see it on bookstore shelves in their lifetime. When a scientist says she's got a pile of data ready to publish, well, that seems like it should see the light of day. But it just as likely won't.
New research suggests that nearly half of all clinical trials involving kids go unfinished or unpublished — either because the researchers lose interest in the work or take up more pressing projects, or, in some cases, because the companies that funded the studies don't want the results to get out.
That news won't come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the fate of studies in general. But it should catch the notice of the FDA: The pharma industry currently gets a special bonus, in the form of extended exclusive marketing rights, for testing their drugs in kids — a rule that was implemented to accelerate research into childhood ailments.
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