In the pocket of Big Pharma

I have suspected for some time that the medical profession in the United States was being driven and controlled by the major pharmaceutical companies. the FDA certainly is. Well buried in the back of newspapers today you will find this.

Medical Journal Says It Was Again Misled

For the second time in two months, The Journal of the American Medical Association says it was misled by researchers who failed to disclose financial ties to drug companies.

The journal is tightening its policies for researchers as a result.

Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, the journal's editor in chief, said her main concern was the effect on readers, who she said needed to know about researchers' financial conflicts of interest to evaluate their studies.

The latest incident, disclosed in letters to the editor and a correction in the journal on Wednesday, involves a study showing that pregnant women who stop taking antidepressants risk slipping back into depression.

Most of the 13 authors have financial ties to drug companies, including antidepressant makers, but just two disclosed their ties when the study was published in February.

Who Me?

The authors of the study defended their research in a letter to the editor published on Wednesday.

The lead author, Dr. Lee Cohen of Massachusetts General Hospital, who is on the speakers' bureau for eight drug companies, disputed that such ties could influence findings.

I don't believe it - do you?