Saturday, November 24, 2012
Economy/Business News Alert
Can drug research still be trusted? (of course not...)
Arguably the most prestigious medical journal in the world, the New England Journal of Medicine regularly features articles over which pharmaceutical companies and their employees can exert significant influence, a Washington Post investigation has found.
Over a year-long period ending in August, about two-thirds of the articles on new drugs published in the Journal were co-written by employees of the companies that made the drugs, a Post analysis has found.
The Journal's reliance on industry research, despite notable examples of potentially lethal bias, reflects the ability of pharmaceutical companies to shape science and influence what doctors prescribe for their patients.
Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
ASTREIA'S NOTE: I've know this for many many years, having used statistical and policy analysis in assessing health care issues. If you have such interests, please read the whole article. Otherwise I will quote below and after that summarize in my own words what happens - and how they got away with it.
Quote from full article:
"As the industry’s influence has grown, the journal and Drazen, who arrived at NEJM in 2000, have repeatedly taken steps to root out commercial bias.
In 1984, the editors laid out a policy calling for authors to disclose their funding and financial associations. In 2001, they asked for more details about the company’s role in the research. Then, last year, Drazen and his team required that the lengthy “protocols” of studies also be published, so anyone can see the exact steps that were taken.
Medical journals have also acted in concert. In 2004, Drazen and editors at other journals made it much harder for companies to hide unflattering experiments, requiring drugmakers to register a summary description of their trials in a public database.
“The drug companies went nuts about requiring registration,” Drazen said. “They said, ‘That’s secret information.’ We said, ‘That’s bull----.’
“As a group, we stood them down,” Drazen said."
ASTREIA'S ANALYSIS:
The FDA licenses new pharmaceuticals. But they do not study them. They allow the pharmaceutical companies to do their own research, and the pharmaceutical companies contract this research out to think tanks and scholars who are in the industry's pocket, paid by the industry, and in full knowledge that their research must present the new drug in the best light possible. Studies that do not indicate that the drug is effective and safe are suppressed. We have known that this circuitous process allows drugs that have not been honestly tested to be placed on the market, creating huge profits for the pharmaceutical industry and causing deaths in the patients to whom these drugs are prescribed. The pharmaceutical sales representatives are often pretty, young women who visit the doctors, provide them with samples and literature, take them out to dinner, provide them with free travel and "conferences" in order to persuade doctors to prescribe the new drugs.
What is NEW though, is that the reputable medical journals are now banding together and requiring transparency about how the studies were conducted, who financed them, and what relationships the scientists performing the studies have/had with the pharmaceutical industry, particularly the companies whose drug these scientists have studied. It is truly brazen the way the studies are biased by fiat, and the negative results are hidden.
Another example of this is the way energy resources are "evaluated". Graduate students charged with the task of evaluating various sources of energy, in a study commissioned by a large coal company, surprisingly (not) concluded that coal was a "clean source of energy" and "probably preferable to oil." Solar power was not even considered in the study. Of course, this occurred in the 1970s...but I believe that we need to create some reputable body of high integrity to review such "purchased research" in many arenas, because not every issue has reputable peer-reviewed journals that are willing to stand up to the corporations. The FDA is also responsible for ensuring that the food supply is safe and healthy, but again, they do not do their own research. They are in the pockets of the Monsantos of the world - this will change. As we become more aware and more willing to say "That's bulls***", these corporations will be caught in their lies and, of course, wriggle out of this responsibility as much as they can, possibly closing down companies and starting new ones with more sophisticated cloaking techniques.
Statistics can be tricky, but I can usually spot errors in statistical studies. So could we all, if we were allowed to read them in their entirety.
The FDA is also the organization that provides a way for big farms to subvert the food supply, deplete the soil, create "Frankenfoods", and even close down small farms to eliminate any competition. The FDA and the FBI have been engaging in concerted efforts to shut down famly farms. They go out unannounced with SWAT teams, kill all the animals and throw them in a pit to rot, destroy and/or confiscate all farming equipment, and arrest the farmers at gunpoint. They even point guns at the farmers children, and in some cases have imprisoned the farmers. Even if they do not go to prison they are left without their livelihood and told never to farm again. This information is made clear in the movie Farmageddon, which is painful to watch but very informative if you can stomach it. To summarize, there is a war going on that allows Big Pharma to release and promote drugs known to be extremely dangerous, while at the same time allowing Big Farming to promote extreme cruelty to animals, genetically modify seeds, and produce food that causes serious illness, thus also feeding the Big Pharma even more. Most parts of the world are refusing to accept this situation any longer, but here in the United States we have not yet succeeded in ending this cycle of death-producing medicines and foods. IT BEGINS.
If you are interested in bringing pressure to bear on this fiasco, I suggest writing to the medical journals and thanking them for taking a stand, writing to the FDA and demanding that this cycle be ceased, write to the President and Congress telling them that you KNOW what is going on and that it must be stopped. Publicizing this information. Demanding that children in schools be encouraged to learn the math skills necessary to spot the false research. Talking to physicians, coming well-armed with research. Writing to state's attorneys, the AMA, and asking your own "doctor" if you have one: Is he/she aware of the research protocols of any drug he intends to prescribe for you and point out to him/her that you will not accept drugs that have already been proven to cause death.
Or you could just forget about it and wait for ascension...I personally think that my education and experience require me to take some responsibility in this area. Since I SEE AND KNOW what is going on, I will take a stand, and for my own good, I will research every medication that is prescribed for me, determine the probabilities of harm, and find natural medicines that could provide better results. And I will heal myself.
Love, Astreia
Shine the light sister,
Shine the light sister, you're really glowing.
Love Nageeta
FDA needs to be closed down
Seriously in light of what you say, and having read about this over many years, the FDA should be closed down. It is just a revolving door for drug companies and the people who run it, no doubt are drug company officials.
Yes, Louise
Precisely.
You are absolutely right. And the point of that long involved blog was to show how they are being taken down even as we speak.
We also need to take on the medical schools. Those doctors only get one class in nutrition. The drug companies come in to speak to them when they are young and just starting out, and by the time they graduate and do their residencies they are already indoctrinated. And not only in believing that they must prescribe pharmaceuticals (and many doctors have had their licenses taken away in the past for suggesting that their patients use herbal remedies...) They are also indoctrinated into believing that "mental illness" is vastly different from "physical illness" and that they should not get involved in their patients' emotional difficulties, other than to refer them to psychiatrists. They have been taught not to see a patient as a whole human being, but each patient is a "case". They are fiercely taught that they are the saviours of the ill, and that anyone else who tries to help people is acting "illegally."
Many doctors are actually afraid of their patients. Especially the patients who ask questions.
I wish I could use my educational skills to co-create a new curriculum and a new paradigm for medical schools. I almost managed to take on one residency program, but was not able to transform it even though I worked on it very very deeply.
Love, Astreia
I love you Nageetah
Thank you so much! We really communicate well with each other.
Love, Astreia