Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has decided to give all the data from pharmaceutical clinical trials it holds to researchers at Yale University. It is giving the anonymised patient data from its pharmaceutical arm Janssen to researchers at the Yale University Open Data Access (YODA) project and YODA will give access to the data to other researchers who request it.

Richard Lehmen holds an advisory role for the YODA project says the move by J&J will be a “game-changer.” He said “I can vouch for the integrity and breadth of vision which has driven this project throughout. The project will be wide open and will provide help to companies who want to follow in J&J’s footsteps. It will make organisations who are still discussing whether data sharing is even a good thing looking very out of date. I’m really thrilled that I will be part of the team.”

J&J is following the pioneering work of GSK who last year launched an online data sharing portal that has since been joined by some other pharmaceutical companies. This is a great step forward for access to clinical trial data.

A spokesman for J&J told Pharmafile: “This is the first time any company has collaborated with a completely independent third party to review and make final decisions regarding every request for clinical data, and we believe it sets a new industry standard in ensuring all requests for clinical data are reviewed in a systematic and objective way that protects patient privacy and confidentiality. We believe that responsible sharing of anonymised clinical trials data enhances public health and advances science and medicine and is in the best interest of the nurses, patients, mothers and fathers and all others who use our products.”

Harlan Krumholz, who heads the YODA group at Yale University, wrote in a New York Times op ed piece Give the Data to the People, “For the good of society, this is a breakthrough that should be replicated throughout the research world.”

Read more:

Forbes: In Stunning Win For Open Science, Johnson & Johnson Decides To Release Its Clinical Trial Data To Researchers

Pharmafile J&J in ‘game-changing’ data disclosure plan

Bloomberg J&J Sets Drug Data Free in `YODA’ Collaboration With Yale