Posted by Larry Hoover on May 12, 2009, at 12:21:14
In reply to Re: Antidepressants Hardly Help ( Time Magazine), posted by Garnet71 on May 12, 2009, at 11:02:18
The NYT article contains an error that distorts the article. It says "94 percent of the positive studies found their way into print, just 14 percent of those with disappointing or uncertain results did..." In fact, 39% of the latter group found their way into print, and others were included in articles that covered more than one study.
In any case, the drug companies don't publish results. Independent journals do, or don't, as they choose. Surely, articles with significant findings have much better chance at finding their way into print, with that decision subject entirely at the discretion of third-party editors and reviewers. Who would read a journal with inconclusive studies being reported?
In fact, the authors of the NEJM review identified that limiting qualifier in the opening sentence of the 'Conclusions' section of their abstract, but I didn't see it reproduced in any lay press article. It said: "We cannot determine whether the bias observed resulted from a failure to submit manuscripts on the part of authors and sponsors, from decisions by journal editors and reviewers not to publish, or both."
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/358/3/252
If that criterion could not be determined, then what right have they (the New York Times) to lay the blame on the pharmaceutical companies? Maybe they themselves can't read. Or maybe they themselves have a publishing bias.
In any case, the FDA saw all the studies. The drugs were approved on the basis of fully disclosed clinical trial results.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:895119
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090505/msgs/895364.html