Novartis to share trial data through ideaPoint

Novartis has become the latest in a series of pharmaceutical companies to sign up to an initiative to share patient-level data from its clinical trials.

Under this arrangement, researchers can seek access to figures relating to the firm's newly-approved medicines in the European Union and US through the ideaPoint portal.

Last month, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi were among the first organisations within the sector to commit to providing anonymised patient-level data to relevant professionals and academics.

An independent panel reviews and assesses those who are granted access to the information, while study sponsors must also list the relevant trials.

Novartis said the move is part of its plans to enhance Clinical Study Report summaries for all its pivotal research by the end of 2014, producing the documents in easy-to-understand consumer language and suitably interpreting all associated figures.

Tim Wright, global head of development at the company, said: "Novartis has taken action to extend our leadership regarding clinical data transparency and access to data by researchers."