This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (8)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Psychopharmacology  • Alert me on articles by topic

William T. Carpenter, Jr, MD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2002;59:282-285.

There are many steps between drug discovery and prescribing for a patient. Each step has problems. In this issue of ARCHIVES, Klein and colleagues propose changes in clinical trials that would result in more meaningful information for the treating physician. Of particular importance is the gap between what a physician needs to know and what is produced in the clinical trials that leads to approval of a new drug by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Their recommendations for improving clinical trials are cogent, but broad-based implementation depends on an organizational structure and political effectiveness not presently in place. Most important, as the authors note, is an effective work group representing industry, regulatory agencies, and academic and federal science, addressing clinical trials issues with public participation. While improved quality and relevance of data from clinical trials will strengthen the scientific foundation of pharmacotherapy, other problems impede the delivery of objective information to the treating physician. Most hotly debated is the role of money in the creation and dissemination of knowledge.

From the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. The author receives lecture and advisory fees from several pharmaceutical firms concerned with antipsychotic drugs and is principal investigator in a science collaboration with Novartis Pharma AG. He does not receive personal funds from Novartis and does not accept or purchase pharmaceutical industry stock.

RELATED ARTICLE

Improving Clinical Trials: American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology Recommendations
Donald F. Klein, Michael E. Thase, Jean Endicott, Lawrence Adler, Ira Glick, Amir Kalali, Steven Leventer, Jeffrey Mattes, Peter Ross, and Alexander Bystritsky
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2002;59(3):272-278.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Is academic psychiatry for sale?
Healy and Thase
Br. J. Psychiatry 2003;182:388-390.
FULL TEXT  

Commentary: Making "Me-too" Drugs Benefit the Public
Nusbaum
American Journal of Medical Quality 2002;17:215-217.
ABSTRACT