Drug and Device Companies to Report Doctor Payments
Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff, The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe | 27-Jan-2012
"All companies that make drugs and medical devices sold in the United States and covered by Medicare and Medicaid may soon have to report payments made to physicians and teaching hospitals.... The rules have been a long time coming. The Affordable Care Act called for them to be in place by October 2011."
Two Steps Forward in the War Against Cancer
Scott Gottlieb, M.D.
The Wall Street Journal | 09-Jun-2010
"News from this week's gathering of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, the world's largest annual cancer meeting, underscores how good we have become at turning new scientific principles into superior medicines. For those who gripe that progress from our huge investments in cancer research is too little or too slow, stunning results from two experimental drugs tell a different story.... The future promises much shorter periods between the uncovering of vital scientific principals and their conversion into useful medicines. Severing the links between the academic researchers that firm up basic science and the industries that craft medicines is the surest way to reverse this trend."
Medtronic Physician Collaboration Website
Medtronic, Inc. | 27-May-2010
"Collaboration between physicians and the medical device industry is vital to creating innovative products and therapies that transform countless lives each year. By providing unique clinical insights and helping industry identify new avenues for therapy development, physicians play a critical role in advancing innovation."
'Conflict of Interest' Outdated Phrase for Physician-Industry Relationship?
Eric Raible
Endocrine Today | 23-May-2010
“Despite its adoption into the common lexicon in the medical sciences, critics contend that the phrase ‘conflict of interest’ itself as it applies to industry-physician collaborative relationships is fraught with philosophical and practical problems. [One presentation suggested] the term ‘conflict’ established a ‘default moral judgment’ and ‘makes salient one aspect of incentive misalignment and risk’ while negating other ‘offsetting incentives, alignments and common interests.’ The resulting framing bias has rhetorically reconstructed what were once termed ‘relationships’ between physicians and industry and has instead designated them as conflicts.”
Unhealthy Opposition: The value of academic-industry relationships
Thomas P. Stossel
Boston Review | 01-May-2010
"Corporate involvement in medical research and education: sin or salvation? The answer depends on how you approach the question.... In the last 40 years, mortality from cardiovascular disease has fallen steadily by about half. Cancer mortality has remained flat in absolute terms and, relative to population, is at an all-time low. Many factors contribute to this incremental reduction in mortality, but according to economists such as Harvard’s David Cutler and Columbia’s Frank Lichtenberg, products produced by industry are the most important."
>Sir James Black (1928-2010), Pioneer in Innovation and Collaboration Saving Lives
Thomas Sullivan, President, Rockpointe Corporation
Policy and Medicine | 25-Mar-2010
“To think that one man’s work with industry could affect the lives of literally millions of people should encourage the public to think more carefully about relationships the drug industry has with researchers, physicians, and patients. If over fifty years ago, one man could have made so many breakthroughs that have made people healthier and live longer, just think of the kind of work industry support can do for us today and the future. At the very least, Dr. James memory will live on in millions of patients who continue to use the medicine and treatments he helped discover through his work with industry.”
Doctors are Well Able to Tell Science from Hype
Stephen Hodgson, M.D., Mayo Clinic
Rochester Post-Bulletin | 24-Mar-2010
“’Conflicts of interest,’ a term [used] to stigmatize normal overlapping interests, are a constant feature of every relationship, whether it's a physician receiving information from a pharmaceutical company or receiving a fee from a patient ... or an uninformed and biased reporter trying to satisfy reader interest or editorial goals. Physicians recognize that overlapping interests derive from a multiplicity of incentives, often involve real and potential motivational differences and are an inevitable aspect of human interaction in all walks of life. More importantly, they know how to make appropriate decisions in this environment on behalf of their patients.”
Bridges, Not Barriers
Nature Editorial
Nature | 25-Feb-2010
“The recent announcement that William Chin, a top executive at the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, is to become executive dean for research at Harvard Medical School, has drawn criticism.... The notion, pushed implicitly by critics, that academia can and should remain a pristine bubble, untainted and uninformed by those with industry experience, reflects a failure to understand that industry-academia cooperation is essential if we are to speed the medical progress that everyone seeks.”
Serving Two Masters - Conflicts of Interest in Academic Medicine
Bernard Lo, M.D.
The New England Journal of Medicine | 25-Feb-2010
“Relationships between academia and industry have both benefits and risks. Close collaboration between academia and industry has facilitated the development of many new drugs. This is an area in which key interests may be aligned: the public seeks effective new therapies, academia wishes to translate basic discoveries into treatments, and industry wishes to develop new products.... However, the mission of academic health centers (AHCs) may diverge from that of for-profit medical companies in important ways.”
Transparency Vs. Translucency in Reporting Physician Payments
John Mack, Publisher, Pharma Marketing News
Pharma Marketing Blog | 03-Feb-2010
“‘Transparency’ is a word you often hear today. It's … used by pharmaceutical companies who are reporting payments made to physicians. [However] the way these payments are presented is ‘translucent’ rather than ‘transparent.’”
Conflicts of Interest, Authorship, and Disclosures in Industry-Related Scientific Publications: The Tort Bar and Editorial Oversight of Medical Journals
Laurence J. Hirsch, M.D., Prior President, International Society for Medical Publication Professionals
Mayo Clinic Proceedings | 01-Sep-2009
The author was an employee at Merck & Co from 1988-2006 and managed the Medical Communications Department for clinical research publications from late 2001 to mid-2006. He states, in part, “Conflicts of interest are widespread and represent a state of affairs, not a behavior or misconduct. They should be managed, rather than vainly attempting their elimination. If disclosure is the method of management, it should be implemented consistently.” The article was accompanied by an editorial by the publication’s Editor in Chief and a large number of letters to the editor.
Industry Gift Bans Slammed for Overreaching
Kevin B. O'Reilly
American Medical News | 10-Aug-2009
"“A new organization called the Assn. of Clinical Researchers and Educators held its charter meeting before a 200-plus crowd in an amphitheater at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Participants assailed conflict-of-interest rules that they argue impede physician-industry collaboration. Recent statements from organizations representing cardiologists and endocrinologists also have defended the value of industry funding in helping to develop better treatments and improve medical practice.” Association of Clinical Researchers and Educators (ACRE)
American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American College of Endocrinolgy Position Statement on Physician/Industry Relationships
Steven M. Petak, MD, JD, FACE, FCLM; et. al.
Endocrine Practice | 01-May-2009
AACE and ACE "believe that interaction between physicians and industry has contributed to safe, effective, and value-oriented health care.... There is no inherent conflict of interest in the working relationship of physicians with industry and government. Rather, there is a commonality of interest that is healthy, desirable, and beneficial."
Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice
Bernard Lo and Marilyn J. Field
Institute of Medicine | 21-Apr-2009
"Collaborations between physicians or medical researchers and pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies can benefit society - most notably by promoting the discovery and development of new medications and medical devices that improve individual and public health. However, relationships between medicine and industry may create conflicts of interest, potentially resulting in undue influence on professional judgments."
Merck Wrote Drug Studies for Doctors
Stephanie Saul
The New York Times | 16-Apr-2008
“The drug maker Merck drafted dozens of research studies for a best-selling drug, then lined up prestigious doctors to put their names on the reports before publication” according to an article entitled "Guest Authorship and Ghostwriting in Publications Related to Rofecoxib"
Citing Ethics, Some Doctors Are Rejecting Industry Pay
Gina Kolata
The New York Times | 15-Apr-2008
“A small number of prominent academic scientists ... decided to stop accepting payments from food, drug and medical device companies.... ‘I just said enough is enough. And in truth, it has made my life simpler.’ ...Now that he receives no compensation, he is less willing to help pharmaceutical companies research treatments. ‘My willingness to go to an advisory board meeting has gone down,’ Dr. Winer said. ‘I have to have a life.’”
A National Survey of Physician-Industry Relationships
Eric G. Campbell
The New England Journal of Medicine | 26-Apr-2007
“The results of this national survey indicate that relationships between physicians and industry are common and underscore the variation among such relationships according to specialty, practice type, and professional activities.”
New Campaign Champions Changes In Medical Prescribing To End Conflicts Of Interest
Pew Prescription Project | 12-Feb-2007
“The Prescription Project today called on academic medical centers, professional medical societies and public and private payers to end conflicts of interest resulting from the $12 billion spent annually on pharmaceutical marketing. Building on a series of reforms recommended last year in an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the project will conduct and publicize research on conflicts of interest, advocate for policy reforms that will eliminate such conflicts, and promote prescription practices that are based on scientific evidence.”