GlaxoSmithKline Begins Posting Drug-Trial Data On Web SiteGlaxoSmithKline Begins Posting Drug-Trial Data On Web Site

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline plc says it has begun posting clinical-trial data for physicians and consumers on the Internet.

The GSK Clinical Trial Register Web site provides summary results of company-sponsored trials of its medications. The first data posted on the site concern clinical trials of Avandia, a drug for type-2 diabetes. Access to the Web site is unrestricted.

The move, revealed Wednesday, is in response to the ongoing debate over whether pharmaceutical companies should publicly disclose clinical-trial results that detail drug-test successes and failures. Last week, GlaxoSmithKline settled a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer that charged the company with withholding information about adverse effects of its Paxil antidepressant drug on teenagers. GlaxoSmithKline, while continuing to deny Spitzer's charge, paid a $2.5 million fine and agreed to post clinical-trial data on the Web.

The American Medical Association has called on the Department of Health and Human Services to create a central clinical trial registry for all drug-trial data.