Clinical studies registry appears to reduce dubious biomedical findings

Scientific American reports that the launch of the clinicaltrials.gov registry in 2000 seems to have had a striking impact on reported trial results. A study published in PLoS ONE found that in a sample of 55 large trials testing heart-disease treatments, 57% of those published before 2000 reported positive effects from the treatments. But that figure plunged to just 8% in studies that were conducted after 2000.