BMJ  2005;330:855-856 (16 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7496.855

Editorial

The influence of big pharma

Wide ranging report identifies many areas of influence and distortion

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

...he would have us believe that his drug has been discovered by chemical research of alchemical profundity, and is produced by a process so costly and elaborate that it can only be sold at a very high price.1

A report published last week on "the influence of the pharmaceutical industry" describes a strong United Kingdom pharmaceutical industry, whose net exports are worth over £3bn ($5.6bn; 4.3bn) annually.² The industry's declared goal is "to bring patients life-enhancing medicines," a goal "not only necessary but noble." The House of Commons health committee examined the means used to achieve this noble end. They found an industry that buys influence over doctors, charities, patient groups, journalists, and politicians, and whose regulation is sometimes weak or ambiguous. For example, the Department of Health, responsible for a national health service that spends £7.5bn on drugs annually, is also responsible for representing the interests of the pharmaceutical . . . [Full text of this article]

West Midlands Centre for Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting, City Hospital, Birmingham B18 7QH (r.e.ferner@bham.ac.uk)

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