Here are various news stories taken from the BMJ news section over the last few years relating to the industry the full versions can be access at BMJ homepage
- Ninety six per cent of those voting in a poll conducted by the BMJ on its website (bmj.com) would like to see all financial relationships between doctors and drug companies conducted with transparent contracts that are disclosed to patients.
A total of 1479 people responded to the questions. The poll was conducted after the BMJ published its theme issue "Time to Untangle Doctors from Drug Companies" - Only 13% of Americans believe that pharmaceutical companies are "generally honest and trustworthy," putting the industry on a par with tobacco, oil, and managed care companies.
- A company ( in Belgium) organised dry ski slope and go-kart contests, both in Holland and Belgium, for GPs and neurologists, which they called the Maxalt Grand-prix. It also provided a weekend on the Friesian island of Terschelling, which included shrimp fishing and dinner dances; seminars were followed by outings to the musical Chicago and the North Sea Jazz festival.
Entertainment accounted for most of the time spent at all the events, with as little 10% of the Terschelling weekend taken up with lectures. In addition, hospitality was extended to doctors' partners for some of the events, contrary to the code. - More than 4700 Italian doctors, managers, and employees of the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are to face allegations of crimes ranging from giving and receiving illicit compensation for prescribing or recommending a specific drug through to corruption and criminal association. These allegations are the result of a two year investigation by the tax police in Verona ( BMJ 2003;326: 413). GSK itself is accused of fiscal fraud and corporate crime.
- A new study of the advertising material and marketing brochures sent out by drug companies to GPs in Germany has shown that about 94% of the information in them has no basis in scientific evidence.
The study, carried out by the Institute for Evidence-Based Medicine, a private independent research institute in Cologne, evaluated 175 brochures containing information on 520 drugs, which were either sent by post or handed out to 43 GPs since last June. The study was published in this month's issue of the drugs bulletin Arznei Telegramm - CMAJ (the journal of the Canadian Medical Association) has published details of an internal document from the drug company GlaxoSmithKline that advised its staff to withhold the findings of a clinical trial in 1998 showing that the antidepressant paroxetine had no benefit in treating adolescents.
- The head of the main medical education accrediting body in the United States says that many commercially sponsored educational events could be run at a fraction of their cost, without unnecessary extras such as expensive lunches and entertainment.
- One in five Americans says that direct to consumer advertising prompted them to call or visit their doctor to discuss an advertised drug, a new consumer survey has found.
- Doctors should be wary of starting their patients on newly approved drugs, because of the high rate of adverse side effects that go undetected until late in the post-marketing surveillance period, a new study says (JAMA 2002;287:2215-20). More than 10% of new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have serious side effects that are not discovered on initial testing and marketing, says the study, led by Dr Karen Lasser and Dr Paul Allen of the Department of Medicine at Cambridge Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Pharmaceuticals again ranked as the most profitable sector in the United States, topping the annual Fortune 500 ranking of America's top industries, released this month. The pharmaceutical industry topped all three of Fortune magazine's measures of profitability for 2001, making this decade the third in which the industry has been at or near the top in all the magazine's measures of profitability.
- Commercial interests are posing such an increasing threat to the integrity of clinical trials necessary for developing new drugs that new regulations are needed to safeguard them from corruption, according to Dr Jonathan Quick, director of essential drugs and medical policy at the World Health Organization.