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NEWS ROUNDUP: Fred Charatan US drug companies help pay for Bush inauguration BMJ 2001; 322: 192d [Full text]

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BMJ supported by Zyban

Paul Thill   (30 January 2001)

BMJ supported by Zyban 30 January 2001
Paul Thill, clinical professor of pharmacy practice Purdue University, Indiana, USA Send response to journal: Re: BMJ supported by Zyban	I find the commentary on Bush's inaugural event funding out of place and very biased. The BMJ should be aware that the banner above this article was blatantly advertising the use of Zyban for one of those evil pharmaceutical companies. The situation with potential bias from pharmaceutical company contributions is not as clear as it was stated in the commentary. Politicians take far fewer dollars from pharmaceutical companies than the medical community and the medical community is one of the biggest contributors to the political machine. I think the real issue is the medical community's influence on the political decisions that are being made and they dress it up as a push for patient medical rights. Most of it is actually looking for better physicain reimbursement.