Minnesota Legislature
NEWS RELEASE

State Representative John Lesch 651-296-4224

State Senator John Hottinger 651-296-6153

March 21, 2006

DFL Legislators Introduce Bill to Make Clinical Drug Trial Results Public

There is growing public concern that pharmaceutical companies are not giving doctors and patients the full story on prescription drugs, such as the widely prescribed anti-inflammatory Vioxx that was withdrawn from the market in 2004. State Senator John Hottinger (DFL – St. Peter) and State Representative John Lesch (DFL – St. Paul) are calling on the Legislature and the Governor to pass a bill requiring drug companies to make all clinical study results available to physicians and consumers.

"Pharmaceutical companies now conduct more clinical tests on their drugs than the government," explained Rep. Lesch. "Yet they are under no obligation to disclose the results if the trials go badly. We think its only fair that doctors and consumers have all the available results to make informed choices about the safety of these drugs. As a purchaser of prescription drugs the state also has a responsibility to make sure those drugs are safe and that taxpayer money is being spent wisely."

Rep. Lesch and Sen. Hottinger's bill would require that drug companies provide information about their clinical trials and make it available on a publicly accessible website for physicians and consumers to access.

"Doctors make their decisions about whether to prescribe a drug based on the results of clinical trials," commented Sen. Hottinger. "We now know studies showing that certain anti-depressants increased the risk of suicide in children and adolescents were never made public, while doctors were being told those drugs worked well for children. We want to make sure that Minnesotans have complete safety information about the prescription drugs they take."