Dr. Kieran Harkin:

Traditionally, there is a real problem with research that is conducted by industry or others, in that research which produces favourable results is published and research which does not produce favourable results tends not to be published. There is a skewing of evidence and people look at it and think it is really good, forgetting that there is lots of unpublished information. There is now EU legislation, although I do not know if it has crossed the line yet, which insists that any clinical trials that have been initiated and conducted must have their results published within 12 months of completion, regardless of the outcome. Some of the medical journals will no longer report on clinical trials unless they have been registered before the trial took place.