According to the NY Times, Stanford University will announce a new policy intended to make it harder, if not impossible, for drug companies to influence the content of CME courses.
According to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the ADVANTAGE trial, ostensibly a RCT comparing Vioxx to Naproxen, was really a "seed" trial - a sham clinical trial used by Merck to turn 600 physician-researchers into marketing tools to boost sales of its arthritis medication Vioxx. Click here for the Annals homepage, here for a Bloomberg.com report, and here for an interview with the lead author of the paper exposing Merck's practice.
Governor Patrick of Massachusetts signed a bill limiting gifts to doctors and requiring disclosure of most drug company payments to physicians (gifts over $50 made to a healthcare professional to be publicly reported on the state's Web site). Click here for coverage, and here for the official press release.
NEJM article reviews the harms and extent of industry payments to physicians, the "hodge-podge" of attempts to ensure that all payments are publicly disclosed, and the specifications of the new Physician Payments Sunshine Act.
Court documents have revealed Eli Lilly trained its sales force to downplay the risks of weight gain and diabetes for Zyprexa and encourage doctors to prescribe the drug beyond approved uses for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to Bloomberg.com.
Powerful members of Congress want to remake the Food and Drug Administration by giving it broad powers to levy fines, order drug recalls, and restrict drug-industry advertising, reports the WSJ.
In an attempt to disentangle commercial messages from science, BMJ authors have compiled a list of nearly 100 independent medical experts to whom reporters can turn for information free of conflict of interests. The list can also be found here.
Washington Post article discusses how a financial stake in a study, regardless of the field, clearly changes the way even the most respected scientists approach their research.
The Alliance for Human Research Protection cites a new study finding only 26% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the pharmaceutical industry.
This week's BMJ asks "Should the drug industry work with key opinion leaders?" One article says yes, the other no. Another article, with video, asks whether paid "key opinion leaders" can be independent or are just drug representatives in disguise.
A Harvard child psychiatrist, whose work has lead to a dramatic increase in antipsychotic med use in children, earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers for years but failed to report the full extent of the income to university officials, according to a NY Times expose, with full coverage at AHRP.
The new policy concerning interactions between healthcare providers and the pharmaceutical industry is up and running. A section on the URMC site outlines the policy.
AMSA released the 2008 scorecard ranking US medical schools on their policing of the money, gifts, and free drug samples that pharmaceutical companies routinely shower on doctors and trainees. Click here for the NY Times article about the card. U of R received an incomplete grade as the institution is currently revising its policies.
BMJ reports that the US drug industry has persuaded key Congressional legislators to water down proposed legislation that would require detailed public disclosure of payments and gifts to doctors.
For a summary of the new pharm policy at URMC, along with a brief review of the evidence behind its creation, click here. For the draft of the New Policy, click here, and for the attached FAQ, click here.
A NEJM article calls for federal regulators to review a television ad for a heart stent that promotes the product’s potential benefits but seems to minimize the medical risks and, thus, may deceive the public.
A Washington Post article discusses two original research articles in JAMA, along with an editorial, that effectively "accuse one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical makers of various forms of scientific fraud."
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