Flacking for Big Pharma

Flacking for Big Pharma

www.aarp.org

When John Abramson, M.D., author of Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine, lectured at Harvard's 2008 Ethical Issues in Global Health Research course, he dismissed much of the content of contemporary U.S. medical journals — widely embraced as irreproachable bastions of disinterested scientific evaluation — as "little better than infomercials."

See also: Doctors push drugs for dollars.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Yeah I know this story came from the AARP but lets face it... all us old time rabble rowers are seniors now and this is the kinds of things we still want to know...

beside doesn't it make you feel so much better taking that unknown pill after learning one more little tidbit from this story...

Moreover, many biased medical-journal articles are not even the work of physicians or scientists, but of ghostwriters who script them in accordance with the drugmakers' marketing messages. A medical expert is found who, for a few thousand dollars, is willing to append his or her signature, and then the piece is published without any disclosure of the ghostwriter's role.

www.aarp.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by DaddyBare


Take it from someone who managed medical research grants for 5 years.... there is much more of this so-called evidence based medicine that wouldn't pass any ethical litmus test than most think.

Frankly, the pharmaceutical companies get to share the guilt with the universities of this count. The universities often sell their honor for the kick-back in cash and the soft intangibles (heightened reputation) that follow the federal funding.... Too bad the media is owned by people with a vested interest in these two morally decayed industries.

reply to post by DaddyBare


it's been like that for a while already, that is why so many new drugs are coming out without proper testing but with full FDA approval, then kills hundreds of thousands of people within the first few years, then we as a nation with so much healtcare wonder why our babies are dying after vaccinations, the elderly eats up to 15 pills aday and the quality of life for the older adult is going down the craper.

Hush, hush people big pharma is just doing its job, they are all for profits after all and backed by the fed.

reply to post by marg6043


true this is nothing new... only one more in a long list...
but you do have to applaud this doctor for coming out and "Telling it like it is"

It is good to see that the peer review process has not sold out completely. It is a tough, complex and messy scene with a lot of conflicts of interest going around. I do hope that wisdom and integrity will get the upper hand before it is to late.

I've said it before, the miltary/industrial complex has nothing on the medical/pharmaceutical complex.

The 10 drug companies in the Fortune 500 are worth more than the other 490 combined.

I heard one estimate that said a full 90% of the drugs we take either do nothing to help, or actually do harm.

It's one of the biggest problems in our society, and Obama's healthcare law plays right into them, because they helped write it.

reply to post by AGWskeptic


And yet they seem to have managed to become so dominant without Obamacare.......

And in some countries with socialised medicine "bit pharma" takes a thrashing - there was recently a bit of a dust up over New Zealand's drub buying policies, with a bunch of "big paharma" sponsored senators writing to Obama to try to stymie Pharmac - hte New Zealand drub buying agency - apparently they insist on pretty good deals - and they buy virtually all hte drugs for eth country - here's a couple of articles from New Zealand outlining their concerns that I found:

www.stuff.co.nz...

www.stuff.co.nz...

I think it is pretty funny to see American drug policy and big pharma battling it out in Afghanistan they went in and destroyed the poppy crops and made the farmers start growing other things. Then there was the big "impending world shortage of morphine" to get them to start encouraging the local farmers to grow poppies again. I know they are only small time farmers in an third world country but they must think we're insane.

www.reuters.com...

www.dailyfinance.com...

Big pharma is not looking out for you so be darn sure you look out for them.