Low-Value Virus Research Clogging Federal Database, Study Says

Most Covid-19 studies posted to a government-run database aren’t generating meaningful evidence necessary to make treatment decisions, according to a study from Stanford and Yale researchers.

Only 29% of more than 1,500 studies listed on ClinicalTrials.gov met a threshold of high quality, based on an Oxford University Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine scale, according to the study published Monday in JAMA Internal medicine.

The report highlights an unintended consequence of so many researchers pivoting to the virus. The high volume of information being generated can make it harder to figure out which studies are the best ones to follow. That ...