EDITOR—The dispiriting BMJ of 31 May uses acres of newsprint to state the obvious that pharmaceutical companies manufacture drugs and promote them to prescribers, who sometimes succumb to the blandishments.1

I have received 53 research grants from 20 sources: research councils, government departments, and medical charities, with one from a pharmaceutical company. I have dealt with industry at many levels, as well as with people from various institutions that support …