HHS – NIH Director's Blog (original) (raw)

NIH Welcomes HHS Leaders to Campus

Posted on November 8th, 2021 by Dr. Francis Collins

On November 4, NIH was visited by U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm. It was my pleasure to join in welcoming them to our Bethesda, MD campus and sharing some of the exciting research conducted here. In this photo, Secretary Becerra (front left) and Deputy Secretary Palm (standing beside him) visit a lab in NIH’s Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC) for a briefing on coronavirus vaccine development. Speaking to everyone is Nancy Sullivan (front right), VRC senior investigator. In front of me, joining in the briefing are (from left to right): Tony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); John Mascola, VRC Director; and Richard A. Koup, VRC Deputy Director. Credit: NIH

Honoring Our Promise: Clinical Trial Data Sharing

Posted on November 19th, 2014 by Drs. Kathy L. Hudson and Francis S. Collins

When people enroll in clinical trials to test new drugs, devices, or other interventions, they’re often informed that such research may not benefit them directly. But they’re also told what’s learned in those clinical trials may help others, both now and in the future. To honor these participants’ selfless commitment to advancing biomedical science, researchers have an ethical obligation to share the results of clinical trials in a swift and transparent manner.

But that’s not the only reason why sharing data from clinical trials is so important. Prompt dissemination of clinical trial results is essential for guiding future research. Furthermore, resources can be wasted and people may even stand to be harmed if the results of clinical trials are not fully disclosed in a timely manner. Without access to complete information about previous clinical trials—including data that are negative or inconclusive, researchers may launch similar studies that put participants at needless risk or expose them to ineffective interventions. And, if conclusions are distorted by failure to report results, incomplete knowledge can eventually make its way into clinical guidelines and, thereby, affect the care of a great many patients [1].

Posted In: Ethics, Health, Science

Tags: clinical research, clinical trials, ClinicalTrials.gov, data sharing, devices, drugs, FDA, HHS, patients, policy, research participants, research results, researchers, summary data