A recent study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine has revealed that industry-funded clinical trials -- that is, drug trials funded by pharmaceutical companies -- almost always show positive results for the drugs they test. In contrast, only about half of government-funded studies show the same drugs to be safe and effective
According to the study, out of 546 drug trials evaluated, industry-funded studies showed positive outcomes 85 percent of the time while 72 percent of trials funded by nonprofits or non-governmental organizations showed positive results.
Of this 72 percent, those nonprofit and non-governmental studies that received some funding contributions from drug companies showed positive results 85 percent of the time, while those that did not had positive outcomes only 61 percent of the time.