Quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand name drugs: a methodological systematic review.

<h4>Background</h4>Generic drugs are used by millions of patients for economic reasons, so their evaluation must be highly transparent.<h4>Objective</h4>To assess the quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand-name drugs.<h4>Methodology/pri...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Amélie van der Meersch, Agnès Dechartres, Philippe Ravaud
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0023611&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850110209650851840
author Amélie van der Meersch
Agnès Dechartres
Philippe Ravaud
author_facet Amélie van der Meersch
Agnès Dechartres
Philippe Ravaud
author_sort Amélie van der Meersch
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Generic drugs are used by millions of patients for economic reasons, so their evaluation must be highly transparent.<h4>Objective</h4>To assess the quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand-name drugs.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>PubMed was searched for reports of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand-name drugs between January 2005 and December 2008. Articles were included if the aim of the study was to assess the bioequivalency of generic and brand-name drugs. We excluded case studies, pharmaco-economic evaluations, and validation dosage assays of drugs. We evaluated whether important information about funding, methodology, location of trials, and participants were reported. We also assessed whether the criteria required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicine Agency (EMA) to conclude bioequivalence were reported and that the conclusions were in agreement with the results. We identified 134 potentially relevant articles but eliminated 55 because the brand-name or generic drug status of the reference drug was unknown. Thus, we evaluated 79 articles. The funding source and location of the trial were reported in 41% and 56% of articles, respectively. The type of statistical analysis was reported in 94% of articles, but the methods to generate the randomization sequence and to conceal allocation were reported in only 15% and 5%, respectively. In total, 65 articles of single-dose trials (89%) concluded bioequivalence. Of these, 20 (31%) did not report the 3 criteria within the limits required by the FDA and 11 (17%) did not report the 2 criteria within the limits required by the EMA.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>Important information to judge the validity and relevance of results are frequently missing in published reports of trials assessing generic drugs. The quality of reporting of such trials is in need of improvement.
format Article
id doaj-art-aa3ee1ff985842b2ab1ca995402949db
institution OA Journals
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2011-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-aa3ee1ff985842b2ab1ca995402949db2025-08-20T02:37:52ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032011-01-0168e2361110.1371/journal.pone.0023611Quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand name drugs: a methodological systematic review.Amélie van der MeerschAgnès DechartresPhilippe Ravaud<h4>Background</h4>Generic drugs are used by millions of patients for economic reasons, so their evaluation must be highly transparent.<h4>Objective</h4>To assess the quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand-name drugs.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>PubMed was searched for reports of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand-name drugs between January 2005 and December 2008. Articles were included if the aim of the study was to assess the bioequivalency of generic and brand-name drugs. We excluded case studies, pharmaco-economic evaluations, and validation dosage assays of drugs. We evaluated whether important information about funding, methodology, location of trials, and participants were reported. We also assessed whether the criteria required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicine Agency (EMA) to conclude bioequivalence were reported and that the conclusions were in agreement with the results. We identified 134 potentially relevant articles but eliminated 55 because the brand-name or generic drug status of the reference drug was unknown. Thus, we evaluated 79 articles. The funding source and location of the trial were reported in 41% and 56% of articles, respectively. The type of statistical analysis was reported in 94% of articles, but the methods to generate the randomization sequence and to conceal allocation were reported in only 15% and 5%, respectively. In total, 65 articles of single-dose trials (89%) concluded bioequivalence. Of these, 20 (31%) did not report the 3 criteria within the limits required by the FDA and 11 (17%) did not report the 2 criteria within the limits required by the EMA.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>Important information to judge the validity and relevance of results are frequently missing in published reports of trials assessing generic drugs. The quality of reporting of such trials is in need of improvement.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0023611&type=printable
spellingShingle Amélie van der Meersch
Agnès Dechartres
Philippe Ravaud
Quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand name drugs: a methodological systematic review.
PLoS ONE
title Quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand name drugs: a methodological systematic review.
title_full Quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand name drugs: a methodological systematic review.
title_fullStr Quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand name drugs: a methodological systematic review.
title_full_unstemmed Quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand name drugs: a methodological systematic review.
title_short Quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand name drugs: a methodological systematic review.
title_sort quality of reporting of bioequivalence trials comparing generic to brand name drugs a methodological systematic review
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0023611&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT amelievandermeersch qualityofreportingofbioequivalencetrialscomparinggenerictobrandnamedrugsamethodologicalsystematicreview
AT agnesdechartres qualityofreportingofbioequivalencetrialscomparinggenerictobrandnamedrugsamethodologicalsystematicreview
AT philipperavaud qualityofreportingofbioequivalencetrialscomparinggenerictobrandnamedrugsamethodologicalsystematicreview