Will pharma-bashing go too far?
There's good news from the clinical trials front. A new study shows that drug companies are doing a better job at reporting a full set of data at clinicaltrials.gov [0], the NIH's registration site. But don't expect the better reporting procedures to blunt a move to force researchers to post their results. Simply put, drug companies have blown their reputation with the public [1], and lawmakers are going to pursue this measure as low-hanging fruit for the legislative harvest. Making drug companies mad is likely to become a favorite sport in Washington D.C.--at least over the next two years. Let's hope that they don't indulge too much in pharma bashing and wind up doing major damage to the prospects of thousands of biotechs and research groups doing solid, honest work in the field. -- John Carroll [2]