UK launches new system to achieve 100% clinical trial registration

Clinical trials run in the UK will be automatically registered from 2022, the country’s Health Research Authority has announced.

The new system seeks to ensure that every single clinical trial with be listed on a trial registry from the outset. UK researchers have been formally required to register trials since 2013, but that rule was never enforced, and many trials remained unregistered.

Trial registration is a key pillar of clinical trial transparency. It helps scientists to gain an overview of who is currently researching which treatments, preventing needless duplication of medical research efforts . In addition, because investigators have to specify in advance what exactly they will be measuring, trial registration supports research integrity by discouraging post hoc statistical shenanigans and evidence distortion.

While there are various rules and regulations around trial registration, no other country currently enforces these nationwide.

The new trial registration system forms part of the wider UK national Make it Public strategy, which aims to ensure that every single clinical trial run in the UK is registered and makes its results public.

The strategy was developed in the wake of a 2018-2019 parliamentary enquiry into clinical trial transparency.

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Source: TranspariMED, 20 October 2021