Eli Lilly hits back at trial result suppression claims

Eli Lilly has issued a response to an report published in the New York Times last week that implies the firm has suppressed the results of negative clinical trials.

This story was based on an article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) that claimed that Prozac and Eli Lilly was a high-profile example of the pharmaceutical industry allegedly suppressing negative clinical trial data.

Eli Lilly claims that the article in the NEJM was inaccurate and did not cite a single unpublished study for Prozac, while it also created a false impression that clinical trial data is suppressed by the firm, while in fact it states that it is an industry leader with the transparency of its clinical trials.

“The authors of the NEJM article decided not to count studies as ‘published’ if the manuscript included data from two or more studies,” Eli Lilly said.

“While this methodology might be suitable for an academic discussion, it’s clearly not the appropriate standard for determining whether a company has been transparent in disclosing its data.”

The firm reported that its data is publicly available online, with results presented to healthcare professionals and published in peer-reviewed medical journals on more than one occasion.

Eli Lilly expressed regret that the New York Times had not got in contact with the firm to verify the story ahead of publication.

IndyStar.com reported a drop in the value of Eli Lilly shares following the report in the NEJM.