Paul Farrow, Communications Director at Oxford PharmaGenesis, summarises their research into the value of professional medical writing support, which was recently published in BMJ Open*.

Recorded 4 May 2016 at a MedComms Networking event in Oxford. Produced by NetworkPharma.tv

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

ABSTRACT:

The 2010 inaugural European meeting of the International Society of Medical Publications Professionals (ISMPP), saw a strong debate between proponents of MedComms and its critics, including Ben Goldacre, who put out a call for the industry to provide evidence that medcomms adds value to clinical trials reporting, and to help root out and shame practices such as ghost writing and non-disclosure of clinical trials.

Building on earlier work in the field by Karen Woolley and Adam Jacobs and colleagues, Will Gattrell and others at Oxford PharmaGenesis, in collaboration with experts in publication ethics and reporting standards, set up a literature research project to assess the value of medical writer involvement in clinical trial publications. Using BioMed Central journals as a broad data source, the researchers identified and compared 110 articles reporting RCTs with medical writer support, versus 123 similar articles without such support. The articles with medical writer support showed a higher rate of adherence to CONSORT clinical trial reporting guidelines, irrespective of the funding source, and improved quality of written English, as assessed by peer reviewers, albeit with a slight reduction in the speed of acceptance, attributable to an increased time for peer review and responding to peer reviewers. (A secondary analysis, presented at ISMPP 2016, further showed that articles with medical writing support were accepted significantly more often by higher impact journals.) In a post-publication survey by MedComms Networking, 75% of respondents said that they had or would use this evidence to promote and/or defend the profession among academic authors, clients, peers and critics.

* Ref: Gattrell WT et al. Professional medical writing support and the quality of randomised controlled trial reporting: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open 2016 21;6:e010329 http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/2/e010329.full

Ref: Gattrell W et al. Professional medical writing support increases the impact of articles reporting randomized controlled trials. Curr Med Res Opin 2016; 32(Suppl 1):S17. 12th International Meeting of ISMPP, 11–13 April 2016 http://www.eposters2u.com/654575

Written by Penny Gray, Freelance Medical Writer

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

We are building a library of free webcasts, like this one, for the global MedComms Community and others at http://www.networkpharma.tv and we’d welcome your suggestions for new topics and speakers.

Full details of this MedComms Networking event are at http://medcommsnetworking.com/event73.html

Paul’s presentation (PDF format) is at http://medcommsnetworking.com/presentations/farrow_040516.pdf

Paul’s Linkedin page is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljfarrow/

More about Oxford PharmaGenesis can be found at:

Web: http://www.pharmagenesis.com
Twitter: @OxPharmaGenesis

Filming and technical direction by Mario Crispino, Freelance Cameraman & Editor

[For the avoidance of doubt: this video is intended to be freely accessible to all. Please feel free to share and use however you like. Cheers Peter Llewellyn, Director NetworkPharma Ltd and Founder of the MedComms Networking Community activity at http://www.medcommsnetworking.com]