Leaping to conclusions

doi:10.1136/bmj.39589.396840.94

BMJ 2008;336:1213-1214 (31 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.39589.396840.94

Feature

Clinical Research

Leaping to conclusions

Margaret McCartney, general practitioner

¹ Glasgow

Margaret@margaretmccartney.com

Clinical trials are sometimes stopped prematurely if they showearly benefit. But this might pose a risk to patients, saysMargaret McCartney

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

"Major trial stopped early because results so good"—suchurgent, feel good headlines about the latest medical breakthroughmake for an eye catching health story. Cancer and HIV drug trialsseem especially susceptible to a high media profile when thereis talk of a newly discovered advantage.

The impression that this is happening more often is borne outby a recent study published in Annals of Oncology by Trottaand colleagues.¹ The research team looked for all publishedclinical trials of cancer drugs in the past 11 years that werestopped early after an interim analysis found benefits. Overhalf of the 25 trials they identified were published in thepast three years (2005–7).

Is this something to be concerned about? Surely an effectivedrug needs to be licensed and made available to as many peopleas possible, as quickly as possible. People who are seriouslyill cannot wait for tedious . . . [Full text of this article]