Rapid responses are electronic comments to the editor. They enable our users
to debate issues raised in articles published on bmj.com. A rapid response
is first posted online. If you need the URL (web address) of an individual
response, simply click on the response headline and copy the URL from the
browser window. A proportion of responses will, after editing, be published
online and in the print journal as letters, which are indexed in PubMed.
Rapid responses are not indexed in PubMed and they are not journal articles.
The BMJ reserves the right to remove responses which are being
wilfully misrepresented as published articles or when it is brought to our
attention that a response spreads misinformation.
From March 2022, the word limit for rapid responses will be 600 words not
including references and author details. We will no longer post responses
that exceed this limit.
The word limit for letters selected from posted responses remains 300 words.
This initiative [1] flies in the face of many warnings, notably the
report of the Commons Health committee on 'The influence of the
pharmaceutical industry' (2005) [2] and is extraodinary considering Dr
Horton's own 2004 essay in the New York Review of Books, 'The Dawn of
McScience' [3] which warned of misalliance of the medical profession and
the pharmaceutical industry. What has happened in the last three or four
years to make us forget everything we apparently ever knew?
It remains troubling that the Chief Exective of Reed Elsevier plc
(publishers of the Lancet), Sir Crispin Davis, is also a non-executive
director of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline [4].
[1] Ferriman, Royal college sets up working party to improve
relations between doctors and drug industry, BMJ 2008;336:14 (5 January),
doi:10.1136/bmj.39428.617431.DB
How could Richard Horton do this?
This initiative [1] flies in the face of many warnings, notably the
report of the Commons Health committee on 'The influence of the
pharmaceutical industry' (2005) [2] and is extraodinary considering Dr
Horton's own 2004 essay in the New York Review of Books, 'The Dawn of
McScience' [3] which warned of misalliance of the medical profession and
the pharmaceutical industry. What has happened in the last three or four
years to make us forget everything we apparently ever knew?
It remains troubling that the Chief Exective of Reed Elsevier plc
(publishers of the Lancet), Sir Crispin Davis, is also a non-executive
director of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline [4].
[1] Ferriman, Royal college sets up working party to improve
relations between doctors and drug industry, BMJ 2008;336:14 (5 January),
doi:10.1136/bmj.39428.617431.DB
[2] http://www.lindalliance.org/pdfs/HofCHealthCommittee.pdf
[3] http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=16954
[4] http://www.gsk.com/about/boardofdirectors.htm
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests