title: The role and impact of research agendas on the comparative-effectiveness research among antihyperlipidemics.
abstract: Although it is well established that funding source influences the publication of clinical trials, relatively little is known about how funding influences trial design. We examined a public trial registry to determine how funding source shapes trial design among trials involving antihyperlipidemics. We used an automated process to identify and analyze 809 trials from a set of 72,564. Three networks representing industry-, collaboratively, and non-industry-funded trials were constructed. Each network comprised 18 drugs as nodes connected according to the number of comparisons made between them. The results indicated that industry-funded trials were more likely to compare across drugs and examine dyslipidemia as a condition, and less likely to register safety outcomes. The source of funding for clinical trials had a measurable effect on trial design, which helps quantify differences in research agendas. Improved monitoring of current clinical trials may be used to more closely align research agendas to clinical needs.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Informatics, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. a.dunn@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.forename: F T
authors.initials: FT
authors.lastname: Bourgeois
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murthy
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Mandl
authors.forename: R O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Coiera
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D057186:Comparative Effectiveness Research / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D000960:Hypolipidemic Agents / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011897:Random Allocation; D012042:Registries; D012107:Research Design
chemical_list: D000960:Hypolipidemic Agents