GlaxoSmithKline to post all clinical trial results on the Web

Friday, June 18th 2004, 11:46 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which has been sued by the New York attorney general for fraud for withholding critical clinical information, announced Friday it will post the results of all of its drug trials on the Web.

Glaxo's announcement comes two weeks after the lawsuit was filed, and three days after the an American Medical Association resolution called on the government to create a public registry for all drug study results.

Glaxo spokeswoman Mary Anne Rhyne couldn't say when the information would be posted but said it shouldn't take longer than six months. ``It is a massive undertaking,'' Rhyne said.

Rhyne said the decision was not a result of the lawsuit filed by Eliot Spitzer, the New York state attorney general. ``It is much bigger than that,'' said Rhyne. ``Clinical trials are a subject of debate across the industry.''

Filed in New York State Supreme Court, the suit said Glaxo suppressed four studies of its anti-depressant Paxil that failed to demonstrate the drug was effective in treating children and adolescents and that suggested a possible increase in suicidal thinking and acts.

It also said an internal 1999 Glaxo document showed that the company intended to ``manage the dissemination of data in order to minimize any potential negative commercial impact.''

Meanwhile, Merck & Co. said it supports expanding an existing government clinical trial registry which is currently just for studies of serious and life-threatening diseases to include all drugs. But Merck spokesman Janet Skidmore said she was not prepared to comment on whether Merck would list of all its trial results on the Web.