British drug maker GSK is set to open its individual patient data pertaining to the clinical trials of an array of medicines, which will enable researchers to leverage them in their specific scientific purposes.
The drug company, which currently offers approximately 200 clinical studies carried out since 1 January 2007, said that it will increase the number to 400 before the end of 2013.
The assortment of data is likely to have studies dated back to December 2000, however, it will not include observational studies or clinical trials of medicines for which GSK does not have the legal right to share data.
After fulfilling certain conditions laid by the company, researchers can request access to deidentified patient-level data from some GlaxoSmithKline sponsored trials.
Glaxo science and innovation senior vice president Perry Nisen was quoted by Bloomberg as saying, "Risks regarding data privacy and irresponsible use cannot be totally eliminated, and it will be a challenge to accommodate diverse expectations across the scientific and medical community,"
It is believed that the latest attempt to providing more data access to researchers will help to perform experiments without escalating risks and costs, while the same will help to secure participant-level data.
