The Many Uses of Data in Public Clinical Trial Registries

Registries were primarily set up to (i) increase the enrollment in trials and (ii) decrease the bias in the published literature. Additionally, scholars have used registry data to answer a wide range of questions, related to: (i) transparency and information dissemination; (ii) healthcare; (iii) science; (iv) biomedical innovation; (v) the ethics of the trial enterprise; (vi) fulfilling regulatory requirements; (vii) the economic implications of clinical studies; (viii) the globalization of the trial enterprise and (ix) holding biomedical journals to account. With the help of numerous examples, I have documented some of these actual, or occasionally potential, uses of registry data. We should be aware of these many uses since they highlight the importance of (a) establishing and maintaining registries, (b) ensuring that trial records are comprehensive and accurate, and (c) funding research on registry data, and facilitating such research in other ways.