Availability of comparative trials for the assessment of new medicines in the European Union at the moment of market authorization

Article date: February 2007

By: Johan C. F. Van Luijn, Frank W. J. Gribnau, Hubert G. M. Leufkens, in Volume 63, Issue 2, pages 159-162

What is already known about this subject

Aims

To investigate the availability of information about premarketing randomized active‐control trials (RaCTs) involving medicines with a new active substance at the moment of market authorization in the European Union.

Methods

Information was obtained from the EMEA European Public Assessment Reports and the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases.

Results

Between 1999 and 2005, 48% of recently approved medicines (n = 122) had been studied in comparison with existing medicines at the moment of market authorization. About one‐third of these trials were published and publicly available at that moment.

Conclusions

For most new medicines evidence‐based assessment of the (added) therapeutic value is not really possible at the moment of market authorization.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2006.02812.x

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