Clinical trials in USA falling since 2001

A study has found that the number of drug company-sponsored clinical trials has been falling in the USA since 2001, with high operational costs and the rising number of trials being cancelled at the final phase being advanced as the major reasons for this development.

The research was carried out by the Boston, Massachu-setts-headquartered Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, using data provided to the US Food and Drug Administration by clinical trial investigators. The study's authors found that a major expansion of USA-based clinical trials in the 1990s levelled off in 2000. From 2000 to 2002, the number of FDA-approved trials dropped 11% in the USA versus an 8% increase overseas.

Trials moving south or abroad