It's actually the other way around! Imagine we currently had a well-designed, scientific regulatory system. All clinical trial activity was transparent so that

It's actually the other way around! Imagine we currently had a well-designed, scientific regulatory system. All clinical trial activity was transparent so that regulatory bodies and the public had the complete picture of the efficacy and safety of pharmaceutical products. Now imagine pharmaceutical companies were lobbying government to allow them to instead filter their clinical trial data, suppressing scientists from publishing negative data, and only publishing positive data to support their products. They launched a site called http://www.sometrials.com http://www.sometrials.com, arguing that only publishing some trials reduced regulatory cost and burden, ensuring cheaper drugs for more people. Wink wink. Then a modified version of your statement would make a lot of sense, imho: I am terrified of the idea that pharmaceutical companies are trying to compel scientists to do anything against their will. Private corporations don't have this right any more than they have the right to read your encrypted email.