Posted by ttee on July 27, 2006, at 6:36:59
In reply to Re: couldn't have said it better myself, posted by linkadge on July 22, 2006, at 16:14:22
> Two people can recieve the same data, and come to entirely different conclusions.
>
> LinkadgeTTEE:
Not when the two people are both getting paid big bucks from a drug/medical device company. They tend to all agree on giving their thumbs up on the product they are getting paid to push.
- TTEE
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Opinion
Pharmaceutical Companies Often Hire 'Star' Researchers To Sell Products Despite Questionable Evidence, Commentary States
Pharmaceutical companies often hire researchers for "star power, an A-list cast with names that themselves sell a product and pull other doctors along, even when the evidence for a treatment is not strong," New York Times reporter Benedict Carey writes in a commentary. For example, according to Carey, the journal Neuropsychopharmacology last week published an article on a new depression treatment -- a $15,000 chest implant that FDA approved in 2005 despite concerns about the effectiveness of the device -- and failed to disclose the financial ties of the authors to the manufacturer, Cyberonics, as well as the names of some of the authors and other consultants hired by the company. Those unnamed individuals "are precisely the sorts of experts the field relies on to help evaluate highly disputed data," Carey writes, adding that, although the "device begged for some more public analysis," the only researchers with the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of the implant "were ... on the company's payroll." According to Carey, "One of the supposed strengths of American science is that it is decentralized and diverse. ... But when many or most of the leading figures are playing for the same team -- an all-star team -- that lineup itself may carry the day, regardless of the science" (Carey, New York Times, 7/25).
poster:ttee
thread:662854
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060724/msgs/671017.html