In Stunning Win For Open Science, Johnson & Johnson Decides To Release Its Clinical Trial Data To Researchers

Drug companies tend to be secretive, to say the least, about studies of their medicines. For years, negative trials would not even be published. Except for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, nobody got to look at the raw information behind those studies. The medical data behind important drugs, devices, and other products was kept shrouded.

Today, Johnson & Johnson is taking a major step toward changing that, not only for drugs like the blood thinner Xarelto or prostate cancer pill Zytiga but also for the artificial hips and knees made for its orthopedics division or even consumer products. “You want to know about Listerine trials? They’ll have it,” says Harlan Krumholz of Yale University, who is overseeing the group that will release the data to researchers.

“We really wanted a broad approach to contributing to advancing medical science through all of our products that touch patients in different ways,” says Joanne Waldstreicher, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Johnson & Johnson. “Responsible sharing of clinical trial data advances science and medicine and is part of Johnson & Johnson’s commitment to the doctors, nurses, patients, mothers, and fathers and all others who use our products,” said Paul Stoffels, MD, J&J’s chief scientific officer, in a prepared statement...