Andrew Sikorski notes that 3 of the 12 HealthWatch committee members
have at some time received income through pharmaceutical companies (1 of
the 3 received money last in 2006). Given that we are an organisation
promoting the fair testing of treatments it would be strange if we had no-
one who had any involvement or experience with pharmaceutical companies.
Nevertheless, it is an opportunity to point out that 75% of HealthWatch
committee members have never received money from pharmaceutical companies,
and that I personally am an NHS GP who resolutely refuses to see
pharmaceutical company representatives at work because I am aware that
they distort prescribing practices. I am only interested in using
treatments that have been shown to work - and like all good GPs select
evidence based medicines from among the vast range of treatment options
that are referred to in the miseleading BMJ clinical evidence pie chart.
Rapid Response:
Re:Re:The weakness of analogies.
Andrew Sikorski notes that 3 of the 12 HealthWatch committee members
have at some time received income through pharmaceutical companies (1 of
the 3 received money last in 2006). Given that we are an organisation
promoting the fair testing of treatments it would be strange if we had no-
one who had any involvement or experience with pharmaceutical companies.
Nevertheless, it is an opportunity to point out that 75% of HealthWatch
committee members have never received money from pharmaceutical companies,
and that I personally am an NHS GP who resolutely refuses to see
pharmaceutical company representatives at work because I am aware that
they distort prescribing practices. I am only interested in using
treatments that have been shown to work - and like all good GPs select
evidence based medicines from among the vast range of treatment options
that are referred to in the miseleading BMJ clinical evidence pie chart.
Competing interests: chairman of HealthWatch