How to interpret clinical trial results like a pro

Cures for Alzheimer’s, miracle cancer treatments, pills that promise to extend human life to unprecedented heights. If you take biotech press releases and investor presentations at face value, the future of medicine has already arrived. The reality is a little more complicated. For every legitimate breakthrough in drug development, there are countless middling results, near-misses, and outright failures dressed up as clinical victories through cherry-picked data, subtle misleading, or artful omission.

Learn to read clinical trial results with a skeptical eye

In this update of STAT’s bestselling report, Adam Feuerstein and the late Sharon Begley provide practical tools for cutting through the spin and evaluating clinical trial results with a critical eye. Drawing on their decades of experience scrutinizing scientific studies, they explain what to look for when kicking the tires on a clinical trial, from its size and design to its execution and endpoints. They also unpack essential concepts including p-values, absolute versus relative risk, and the problems with post-hoc analyses.

Through case studies and specific examples, dive into how misdirection and selective reporting can obscure what the data actually say. Whether you’re trying to understand a company’s prospects, evaluate a potential medicine, or simply make sense of biotech headlines, this guide will help you navigate the hall of mirrors — and make smarter judgments about clinical trial results.

In this report, you will find:

• A definition of spin in clinical trials, supported by real life examples.
• Four key questions to ask when evaluating clinical trial results, and an overview of additional tools you need to read results more critically.
• Analysis of the red flags you should look for in clinical trial design, execution, and reporting of results.