Inhaled insulin: Evidence based or industry driven medicine?

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7552.1273-d

BMJ 2006;332:1273 (27 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7552.1273-d

Letter

Inhaled insulin

Evidence based or industry driven medicine?

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

EDITOR—Morton-Eggleston and Barrett give a useful, timelydescription of inhaled insulin to coincide with the recent recommendationsfrom the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence(NICE).^{1 2} But why issue an editorial by authors from the UnitedStates, a country not known for its wise use of health resources?And, why from an author heavily involved with Pfizer, the makersof the first inhalable insulin preparation (see competing interests)?

A more balanced and less promotional editorial was publishedin the BMJ only two years ago,³ and the questions raised atthat time—concerning lack of additional benefit, longterm safety, lung complications, questions on patients' preference,and the cost implications for the care of other patients—remainunanswered.

In the same issue of the BMJ questions were raised in a commentaryabout the worrying and increasing influence of the pharmaceuticalindustry in the academic research agenda.⁴ Should we not have. . . [Full text of this article]

H Alberti, academic general practitioner

Tunis, Tunisia hugh.alberti@newcastle.ac.uk