Re: Should journals stop publishing research funded by the drug industry?
The link between the pharmaceutical industry, the publishing industry, scientific institutions that establish standards and treatment guidelines, and the professionals that are, ultimately, who prescribe drugs, is extremely complex.
One of the main problems to be solved, in the FOUR cases, is the duplication of objectives (rarely explicit): Money and Health.
Drugs are the third leading cause of death because the four actors involved in this complex system have allowed it. All FOUR participants are needed. And measures for a transparent information flow and reverse this situation must necessarily include these four actors. And all this four actors should earn slightly less money to tip the scales in favor of health.
Suspend publication of trials funded by the pharmaceutical industry would be a reactive and isolated measure, from my point of view, that would weigh very little about the overall system performance.
Yesterday I read an article in New England Journal of Medicine (http://goo.gl/RNMtU1)1 about the new guidelines released by the American College of Cardiology - American Heart Association (ACC- AHA) Task Force on Practice Guidelines that have already been the subject of controversy, with some observers arguing that some elements of the recommendations ( statins ) are not evidence-based.
I think that prescribers who accept and implement what is published in journals and standards established by the institutions without even hesitating, without a hint of critical thinking, sin through ignorance, comfort, negligence, greed, naivety or perhaps simply because of lack of common sense.
Opening the debate is a positive and proactive step to change the situation. But the real solutions must be much more comprehensive.
1. A Pragmatic View of the New Cholesterol Treatment Guidelines- John F. Keaney, Jr., M.D., Gregory D. Curfman, M.D., and John A. Jarcho, M.D.- N Engl J Med 2014; 370:275-278,January 16, 2014,DOI:10.1056/NEJMms1314569
Rapid Response:
Re: Should journals stop publishing research funded by the drug industry?
The link between the pharmaceutical industry, the publishing industry, scientific institutions that establish standards and treatment guidelines, and the professionals that are, ultimately, who prescribe drugs, is extremely complex.
One of the main problems to be solved, in the FOUR cases, is the duplication of objectives (rarely explicit): Money and Health.
Drugs are the third leading cause of death because the four actors involved in this complex system have allowed it. All FOUR participants are needed. And measures for a transparent information flow and reverse this situation must necessarily include these four actors. And all this four actors should earn slightly less money to tip the scales in favor of health.
Suspend publication of trials funded by the pharmaceutical industry would be a reactive and isolated measure, from my point of view, that would weigh very little about the overall system performance.
Yesterday I read an article in New England Journal of Medicine (http://goo.gl/RNMtU1)1 about the new guidelines released by the American College of Cardiology - American Heart Association (ACC- AHA) Task Force on Practice Guidelines that have already been the subject of controversy, with some observers arguing that some elements of the recommendations ( statins ) are not evidence-based.
I think that prescribers who accept and implement what is published in journals and standards established by the institutions without even hesitating, without a hint of critical thinking, sin through ignorance, comfort, negligence, greed, naivety or perhaps simply because of lack of common sense.
Opening the debate is a positive and proactive step to change the situation. But the real solutions must be much more comprehensive.
1. A Pragmatic View of the New Cholesterol Treatment Guidelines- John F. Keaney, Jr., M.D., Gregory D. Curfman, M.D., and John A. Jarcho, M.D.- N Engl J Med 2014; 370:275-278,January 16, 2014,DOI:10.1056/NEJMms1314569
Competing interests: No competing interests