ArticleEpilepsia open2025
Inequalities in access to industry-funded interventional phase I-IV drug trials in epilepsy.
Article in Epilepsia open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Inequalities in access to industry-funded interventional phase I-IV drug trials in epilepsy.Epilepsia open · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveClinical trials on drug safety and efficacy are understood to be valid for all humans, but are not equally distributed worldwide. We aimed to analyze the global distribution of clinical drug trials (phase I-IV) in epilepsy and its correlation with key demographical and epidemiological factors.
methodsWe combined data on industry-funded interventional drug trials in epilepsy from clinicaltrials.gov with epidemiological, geographical, socioeconomic, and human development data. This allowed us to analyze the distribution of trials and trial sites in relation to population, epilepsy incidence, and prevalence.
resultsAmong 459 trials conducted in 69 countries, a vast majority of sites were situated in high-income regions and countries with very high Human Development Index (HDI). There was a striking underrepresentation of low-income countries and those with low HDI. Specifically, we found a 40- to 145-fold underrepresentation of trial sites in the WHO regions of Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean when comparing the actual number of sites to the expected number, assuming an even distribution by population, incidence, or prevalence. SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings highlight inequalities in the distribution of epilepsy trial sites based on population size and disease burden. They underscore the need for more equitable trial placement strategies that consider both disease epidemiology and demographic diversity to ensure adequate representation of all affected populations. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: This study looked at where clinical trials for epilepsy medications are being done around the world. We found that most trials take place in high-income countries, while many areas with a high number of people living with epilepsy-especially in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean-are left out. This shows a big gap between where the disease is most common and where research happens. Highlighting this mismatch can help guide future efforts to make clinical research more inclusive and globally relevant.
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Registered trials
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.