Similarly, drug companies do not routinely divulge everything the public and physicians need to know about company-funded drug research. Financial conflict of interest in clinical drug trials is a significant problem in the United States. Predictably, company-funded research tends to favor company products. Equally troubling, drug companies frequently own and control the data collected in drug trials. Even the university scientists conducting the trial may not be given all the data they need.
Companies sometimes publish data favorable to their product while suppressing unfavorable data.
Take the case of Dr. James O. Kahn, who not long ago published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association . His study concluded that a vaccine for AIDS simply didn't help patients. It then tried to block publication of the research. In light of such intimidation, few researchers will have the courage to stand up to the companies that fund them. Added to the problem of publication rights is the issue of how clinical research is designed and executed.