Drug firms are 'risking lives by hiding bad trials and side effects of their medicines'

Calls for companies to be made to publish the results of all its trials

By Daniel Martin

PUBLISHED: 19:48 EST, 23 October 2012 | UPDATED: 01:50 EST, 24 October 2012

Drug companies are deliberately withholding the results of adverse clinical trials - putting patients at risk, an MP warned yesterday.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, a Tory backbencher, said pharmaceutical companies were burying bad news about the effectiveness and side effects of their medicines.

She is backing a campaign for a change in the law to force drugs firms to publish the details of all trials - good or bad.

Campaign: Calls are being made for a change to the law that would force drug companies to publish the results of all its trials

The family doctor said such a move would save the NHS millions, because at the moment taxpayers fund medicines which may not be as effective as they claim.

Yesterday Dr Wollaston told MPs: Missing data from clinical trials distorts the evidence and prevents patients and their doctors from making informed decisions about treatment.

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Drug firms are 'risking lives by hiding bad trials and side effects of their medicines'