Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24816032›Full record

ArticleClinical and translational science2014

Tracking the pharmaceutical pipeline: clinical trials and global disease burden.

Marci D Cottingham, Corey A Kalbaugh, Jill A Fisher

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical and translational science, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trends of Publication of Negative Trials Over Time.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Marci D CottinghamDepartment of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Corey A Kalbaugh
Jill A Fisher

Funding

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY CTSA FOR PEDIATRIC RESEARCHUL1RR024975 · NCRR · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · PI BERNARD, GORDON RAPHAEL · 2007 to 2011
$45.7M
The Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR)UL1TR000445 · NCATS · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI BERNARD, GORDON RAPHAEL · 2012 to 2016
$41.4M
Cardiovascular Epidemiology Training GrantT32HL007055 · NHLBI · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI Wayne D. Rosamond · 1986 to 2026
$10.0M
Phase I Clinical Trials and the Informed Consent of Healthy SubjectsR21CA131880 · NCI · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · PI FISHER, JILL A · 2009 to 2010
$385k
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR000445NCI NIH HHS 5R21CA131880NCI NIH HHS R21 CA131880NCRR NIH HHS 1UL1RR024975NCRR NIH HHS UL1 RR024975NHLBI NIH HHS T32 HL007055
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Aggregate data about pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) tend to examine Phase III trials. Hence, there are few published data about investigational drugs in earlier phases of clinical development that might fail. It is also unclear how well R&D corresponds to disease burden. We track the pharmaceutical pipeline using data from industry publications that provide otherwise unreported information about industry-sponsored clinical trials. The sample includes 2,477 unique drug entities in 4,182 clinical trials. The majority of drugs targeted neoplasms (26.20%), neurological diseases/diseases of the sense organs (13.48%), infectious and parasitic diseases (10.5%), and endocrine, metabolic, nutrition, and immunity disorders (9.45%). Less than 6% of drugs targeted diseases of the circulatory system, which represent the most prevalent causes of global mortality. Detailing the pharmaceutical pipeline, our findings suggest that pharmaceutical development does not adequately address global disease burden. Future research on the under-reported details of Phase I and II clinical trials is needed to understand how the industry operates and how its resource-allocation matches global health concerns.

Indexed as

Clinical Trials as TopicCost of IllnessDrug IndustryGlobal HealthDrugs, InvestigationalHumansDrugs, Investigationalclinical trialsphase Iphase II

Identifiers

PMID24816032
PMCPMC4134709

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.