Inside big pharma's box of tricks

doi:10.1136/bmj.39104.771597.59

BMJ 2007;334:209 (27 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39104.771597.59

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Inside big pharma's box of tricks

Joe Collier, professor of medicines policy and consultant in clinical pharmacology, St George's Hospital and Medical School, London

jcollier@sgul.ac.uk

Joe Collier is impressed by a BBC documentary about the marketingof paroxetine

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

The list of examples of big pharma's trickeryseems endless (even though many of those employed in it areof the highest calibre and of unquestionable integrity). Indeed,it is as though, in the marketing arm of some drug companies,mischief is institutionalised. But much of this is recognised,and the adverse effects of drug companies could be counteredby alert regulators, scientists, prescribers, and the medicalpress. All too often, however, these checks fail. There is evenevidence that, in some cases, these counter-forces collude withindustry and so compound its indiscretions. It is this area,the interplay between industry and some of the would-be counter-forces,that Panorama's "The Secrets of Seroxat" seeks to tackle.

Panorama has been investigatingdrug companies' behaviour for years, and this inquiry is itsthird involving selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs),and in particular Seroxat (paroxetine), since 2002. It dealsprimarily with GlaxoSmithKline's . . . [Full text of this article]

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