Who can you trust?

by: los anjalis

Sat Nov 22, 2008 at 20:50:05 PM PST

Dr. Goodwin's weekly radio programs have often touched on subjects important to the commercial interests of the companies for which he consults. In a program broadcast on Sept. 20, 2005, he warned that children with bipolar disorder who were left untreated could suffer brain damage, a controversial view.

"But as we'll be hearing today," Dr. Goodwin told his audience, "modern treatments - mood stabilizers in particular - have been proven both safe and effective in bipolar children."

Supposedly Dr Goodwin received $2,500 that same day by a pharmaceutical company to promote it's drug for bipolar syndrome.  And...

He said that he had never given marketing lectures for antidepressant medicines like Prozac, so he saw no conflict with a program he hosted in March titled "Prozac Nation: Revisited." which he introduced by saying, "As you will hear today, there is no credible scientific evidence linking antidepressants to violence or to suicide."

That same week, Dr. Goodwin earned around $20,000 from GlaxoSmithKline, which for years suppressed studies showing that its antidepressant, Paxil, increased suicidal behaviors.

Check out the article -- "Radio Host has Drug Company Ties" -- in the New York Times.  The good news, though, is that this conflict-of-interest information was revealed by a formal investigation by Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who has also sponsored the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (S. 2029) of which there is also a version in the House.  S. 2029 looks to increase transparency and accountability by requiring drug and medical device companies to publish all gifts and payments over a certain dollar amount, given to physicians.

The National Physicians Alliance is in support of this legislation as part of its Unbranded Doctor campaign.  It hosts an informative webpage on this legislation.  The legislation is gaining support among legislators, media makers, and conscientious physicians and health systems.  It's music to my ears, because as a health care provider, I believe that I (and the public) have a right to know where conflicts of interest exist.  I'd really like to know who I can trust.  

Drugs, doctors, and dinners. Abroad.

by: los anjalis

Thu Nov 01, 2007 at 00:57:16 AM PDT

Multinational drug companies are showering doctors in the developing world with gifts and inducements to persuade them to prescribe drugs of dubious value, an investigation has revealed.

Intense marketing of medicines has resulted in up to half of drugs being wrongly prescribed, the campaign group Consumers International says in its report "Drugs, Doctors and Dinners". It calls for a ban on gifts to doctors. [...]

In Pakistan, doctors who wrote 200 prescriptions for one high-price drug were offered the down payment on a new car.

Multinational companies are turning to the developing world as profits stagnate in the West. But regulation in these countries is weak and drug sales representatives can influence prescribing by the inducements they offer [...]

Richard Lloyd, of Consumers International, said: "The pharma industry sees the developing world as a trillion-dollar opportunity... but consumer health expenditure in these countries can ill afford to be squandered." He added: "The best way to ensure patients in the developing world get rational impartial treatment is... to ban gifts for doctors."

Check out the full report "Drugs, Doctors and Dinners" (PDF, 1.49mb, 44pages) published by Consumers International.

Liveblogging from Washington, DC...

by: los anjalis

Sat Oct 06, 2007 at 12:28:18 PM PDT

We're having some serious discussions and strategizing together on health care issues, advocating for our patients and the public's health, and building a more robust organization in the process.

The NPA does not accept ANY money from pharmaceutical companies, AND advocates strongly against physicians and physicians' organizations having an unhealthy relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.

In addition, we're discussing our access to health initiatives, building our global health workforce initiative, responding to the SCHIP insurance cuts crisis, and developing our race/medicine and institutional racism (undoing racism) analyses.

It's nothing less than a party.  Of ideas.  Of energy.  Of a positive future of integrity in medicine.  And the coffee is being drunk like the wine it is at meetings like this.