Comments on: Watch your soul, cause science is golden

By: Rx-ky business « It’s Alive!!

Rx-ky business « It’s Alive!! — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:20:22 +0000

[...] post for painting my town¹ a little too apologetic for our phriends in Pharma (possibly due to some comments I made on this post of his, and these over at The Scientist, and also just today on Flickr…) [...]

By: admin

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:14:12 +0000

Joe – I don’t want to get into the whole vaccine thing again. Been there, got the flak to prove it.

TUB – Pharma execs have a lot to be in a bad mood about these days.

Mongola – We had a Pinto in the 70’s. Fortunately ours was one of the non-blowing up kind. I think you’re probably dead right about the legal budget.

Rassles – I didn’t either. Heard it on On the Media over the weekend.

Jill – It’s all about the money. For everyone.

Headbang – What’s a DTC drug?

Gypsy – I guess they’ve got to pay the rent like everybody else. They just decided cheating was easier.

SIS – I don’t completely buy their justification for the cost of the drugs anyway.

CMGD – The whole drug rep pressure is another issue and there have been some scary things coming out in the Australian case. Doctor’s being muscled, Merck black lists. No wonder they settled so quickly in the States.

Courtney – I hate it because it tastes bad.

Ariza – I’m not out of it entirely.

April – I’m not a big fan either, largely because they have sort of low impact journals that you don’t generally need and then, as you said, they want to charge you for the one damn paper you need in a crap journal.

Gwen – I don’t know if they fund most medical research but certainly they do a fair bit.

Zayzay – I’m a medical writer as well, but my name is on everything I write. I think that’s the issue in this case – undisclosed authors in medical ‘journals’. I’ve got no problem with using writers.

Lora – Thanks!

Lailaini – I’d like to believe that pharmaceutical companies have patients’ interests at heart, but I just don’t.

admins last blog post..And happiness I’ve known proves that it’s right

By: SSG

SSG — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:56:33 +0000

can journals masquerade like this? and be in a scientific realm? they shouldn't be searchable in pubmed. Or there should be a chartermark or some approval stamp to say a journal has passed peer review, no competing interests and all that... SSGs last blog post..Hello lovely people

By: maggie, dammit

maggie, dammit — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:15:02 +0000

Holy shit.

By: blues

blues — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:52:45 +0000

BLOWN.AWAY. by this. I mean, not the cunning of the pharmaceutical companies, but the fact that scientific journals do not require disclosure of funding conflicts from their contributors. Unreal. bluess last blog post..This is me. There's a freak show going on in my brain.

By: sarala

sarala — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:21:05 +0000

Wow. I hadn't heard this one. I am truly nauseated. Shame especially on Elsevier for colluding with this fraud. Thanks for waking us all up to this. saralas last blog post..Lupus Crossing

By: lailani

lailani — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:06:06 +0000

Drug companies need to be rooted very firmly in good ethics. So many of them are not- they start out with a vision of helping people out of their misery with advances in science and great discoveries. But then... then, they get greedy. I work for a huge biotech company in California. I see day in and day out everything that the executives are doing to ensure that we are doing the right thing by our patients. In order for this to work, EVERYONE at the company has to hold true to the original vision. Keep the patient in mind, not the bottom line. If it means that we don't sell as much product because we have to send out a warning about side effects- fine. We may lose some perks or have to layoff some staff in order to take the hit. I think we're all okay with that because these drugs can mean life or death. And that's a way bigger deal than having to send some people to the unemployment line. I'm so sorry to see that some drug companies don't get it. That they are using marketing as a means to push harmful drugs onto unsuspecting healthcare professionals and patients. They deserve every bit of punishment that is coming to them. lailanis last blog post..Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. ~Rachel Carson

By: lora

lora — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:06:39 +0000

I am posting today about drug companies, albeit on a lighter note. And I love your hate comments, I can only imagine what your hate emails are like!! They are always ten times better. One of the reasons this is one of my favorite blogs is because your posts are intelligently written and you can tell by some of the comments that people are giving up after the fourth big word. Love it, love it, love it. loras last blog post..not crazy

By: zayzayem

zayzayem — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:48:23 +0000

Next years MA guidelines are set to prohibit distribution of BNRs (brand name reminders) that cost more than $20 each and do not directly relate to clinic practice.

Non-clinical items, like pens and paper, may be branded only with the corporate logo, and will only be allowed to be distributed at educational events (not by sales reps on doctor calls). Looks like doctors will have to start spending more on stationary… (or stock up at conferences).

By: zayzayem

zayzayem — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:35:40 +0000

I’ve got to step in and defend my Pharma paycheck (one more month…):
Merck’s behaviour on creating fake journals, and possibly training sales reps to downplay known adverse drug effects is inexcuseable – but I have to pull up your disparaging remarks on *ghostwriting*.

Using expert medical writers is a perfectly ethical, and indeed healthy tool, for science communication. Not only does the Pharma company want to ensure it highlights its key messages (ok, potentially ethically questionable), but they are going to be held responsible for any misinterpretation of research associated with their sponsored studies. Medical writers are trained scientists (many with PhDs, medical experience and/or communications diplomas), and I don’t think a Pharmaco would waste the resources on anything less (remember they’re held responsible if the writing doesn’t measure up).
Medical writing is also routinely outsourced to independent agencies like mine, because like CROs, medical writing and independent communication is not always the forte of a Pharmaco either.

Disclosure of any editorial support supplied by external editors should be acknowledged in the relevant section of the paper. And likewise any honorarium received by the authors.

zayzayems last blog post..Worst suicide attempt ever