NIH Web site to boost clinical trials
ClinicalTrials.gov will include information on more than 4,000 medical studies.
By AMNews staff. March 20, 2000.
The National Institutes of Health has launched the first phase of a new program called ClinicalTrials.gov, which will include information on more than 4,000 medical studies involving patients and others at more than 47,000 locations nationwide. More than 2,800 of these trials are still recruiting.
The site provides patients, family members, health care professionals and members of the public access to information on clinical trials for a wide range of diseases and conditions. It includes information about the design and purpose of trials, criteria for participation and further information about the disease and treatment being studied. The site also includes links to the people responsible for recruiting study participants.
"If we are to continue making the giant strides in diagnosis, treatment and cure of illness that marked the last century, we must have active participation in clinical trials by well-informed volunteers," said Donald Lindberg, MD, director of NIH's National Library of Medicine, which developed and administers the new database.
ClinicalTrials.gov was developed as a result of the FDA Modernization Act, which became law in November 1997. The act required the Dept. of Health and Human Services, through the NIH, to establish a registry of clinical trials.
The new Web site is billed as confidential; no registration or personal identification of any kind is required. People who search the site will not be contacted by the sponsors of clinical trials or by anyone else, the NIH said.
ama-assn.org
FWIW, I briefly looks at the .gov site. Seems like some useful data there - if you're into looking at details. They do have somewhat of an "Last updated" reference. It also shows when the trails started. Not sure how this compares to www.recap.com data, which based on my limited access tends to lag a bit on the update cycle.
Jim |
