African Traditional Herbal Research Clinic Why ... - Blackherbals.com

African Traditional Herbal Research ClinicVolume 3, Issue 9 NEWSLETTER October 2008FEATURED ARTICLESMed Schools, Journals Fight Big Pharma’s SwayEven as new guidelines are set, potential for conflict remains, say manyTRENTON, N.J. - Just about every segment of themedical community is piling on the pharmaceuticalindustry these days, accusing drugmakers of deceivingthe public, manipulating doctors and putting profitsbefore patients.Recent articles and editorials in major medical journalsblast the industry. Medical schools, teaching hospitalsand physician groups are changing rules to limit theinfluence of pharmaceutical sales reps. And three topeditors of the prestigious New England Journal ofMedicine last month publicly sided against the drugindustry in a U.S. Supreme Court case over whetherpatients harmed by government-approved medicinesmay still sue in state courts.As more voices have called for change, new guidelinesfor how drugmakers and doctors should interact arecoming from both industries, and doctors say someabuses of the past have ended. But the industries’dealings remain fraught with potential conflict becausethe sectors depend on each other so much — medicineon drugmakers’ research dollars and drugmakers on thecredibility researchers give them.“The influence that the pharmaceutical companies, thefor-profits, are having on every aspect of medicine ... isso blatant now you’d have to be deaf, blind and dumbnot to see it,” said Journal of the American MedicalAssociation editor Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, a longtimeindustry critic. “We have just allowed them to takeover, and it’s our fault, the whole medical community.”In an April editorial in her journal, DeAngelis notedtwo studies indicated past reports about Merck & Co.’swithdrawn pain reliever Vioxx frequently were pennedby ghostwriters and that reports on some Vioxx studiesminimized the risk of death. Merck has denied thecharges.“Manipulation of studies and publications by thepharmaceutical and medical device industries is eitherincreasing or there has been more exposure of thesepractices,” she wrote.The Associated PressSeptember 10, 2008“We should say "Enough!"She said industry influence includes swaying doctorsand medical students to their brands with gifts, fundingresearch at top teaching hospitals but keeping control ofthe studies and results, failing to disclose study authors’conflicts of interest, even taking over the continuingmedical education system for doctors by runningcourses on new treatments. Critics say such courses aretaught by company-paid speakers who often promoteexpensive new drugs over older, cheaper ones.“We should all get together and say, ’Enough!”’DeAngelis said.Already, top journals are listing study authors’ conflictsof interest, and dozens of medical schools and medicalspecialty societies are barring gifts to doctors andlimiting their other financial ties to industry. Someschools bar professors from being paid drug company’sspeakers. And one expert noted drugmakers havestopped giving cash prizes to medical students forpresenting favorable research on their drugs atconferences.Still, no one is suggesting anything as drastic as cuttingoff industry funding for academic research on newdrugs. Those billions help pay lab and other expenses atvirtually all U.S. teaching hospitals, medical schools andaffiliated practices, while giving the drugs’ developersthe cachet of having big-name academic researchersrunning their studies.The industry’s trade group, in an apparent response, inJuly revised its 2002 “Code on Interactions with HealthcareProfessionals” to ban giving out pens, mugs andother noneducational gifts, taking doctors to restaurantsand giving them tickets for shows or sports events.Bringing meals to their offices and donating anatomicalmodels and textbooks will still be allowed when thevoluntary code takes effect in January.-6-Traditional African Clinic – October 2008“America’s pharmaceutical companies devote manyyears and billions of dollars to researching and develop-Continued on page 7