Sharing and Reporting the Results of Clinical Trials

Theprinciple of data sharingdates to the dawnof sci-entificdiscovery—it ishowresearchers fromdifferentdis-ciplines and countries form collaborations, learn from others, identify new scientific opportunities, and work to turnnewlydiscovered information intosharedknowl-edgeandpracticaladvances.Whenresearch involveshu-manvolunteerswhoagree toparticipate in clinical trials to test new drugs, devices, or other interventions, this principleofdata sharingproperly assumes the roleof an ethical mandate. These participants are often in-formed that such research might not benefit them di-rectly, butmayaffect the livesofothers. If theclinical re-searchcommunity fails tosharewhat is learned,allowing data to remainunpublishedor unreported, researchers are reneging on the promise to clinical trial partici