Pfizer’s head of Clinical Innovation for Worldwide R&D Craig Lipset, has suggested that the use of social media is ‘unblinding’ clinical trials, therefore compromising the integrity of the trial.
As reported in an article by Outsourcing Pharma, through clinical trial participants discussing their treatment on social media, they are potentially coaching each other and causing a ‘false spike’ in reports of safety. The use of blogs, facebook and internet forums to discuss clinical trials are affecting data integrity, however there is no easy remedy for the situation. Lipset stated that with social media being part of our daily life’s “the genie cannot be put back in the bottle”.
Patients venturing online and describing their treatment, from the positives to the negatives can violate guidelines for the trials, however as Lipset stated, “we do not currently have ways to link the blinded randomized patient to a social media posting…as such we have no way to confirm if the patient is really in the trial”.
Trying to control participants use of social media is not the way forward, but rather it is a case of sponsors, pharmaceutical companies and regulators working together to create new guidelines, which will enable all those involved to remain objective. Therefore maintaining integrity and a clear understanding of the trial.
Social media is not all bad, it can provide opportunities for pharmaceutical research and is an area that needs to be developed and taken advantage of. Right here, right now, however, there is a need to understand how social media works and its impact on the integrity of clinical trials, with stakeholders working together to remedy the situation.
