Doctors, patients, and the drug industry

doi:10.1136/bmj.b463

Published 5 February 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b463
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b463

Editor's Choice

Doctors, patients, and the drug industry

Fiona Godlee, editor, BMJ

fgodlee@bmj.com

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

In the Royal College of Physicians’ report on relationsbetween industry, academia, and the NHS (doi:10.1136/bmj.b442)Iain Chalmers is quoted as saying, "I do not blame industryfor trying to get away with anything that is normally consideredto be its primary purpose, which is to make profits and lookafter its shareholders’ interests. It is our professionthat has colluded in all of this and been prepared to go alongwith it—we are the people to blame because we need nothave stood for it."

By "all of this" I assume Chalmers means the many ways in whichdrugs are promoted in the guise of science, education, and information:the misreporting of industry funded research, the use of ghostwriters and key opinion leaders, the provision of free coursesand conferences. His words echo Suzanne Fletcher’s inthe BMJ last year (2008;337:a1023, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1023). Forthese . . . [Full text of this article]

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