Healthy Skepticism Library item: 6637

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: book

Gabe J, Bury M.
Anxious times: the benzodiazepine controversy and the fracturing of expert authority
New York: Oxford University Press 1996

Abstract:

(Limited to parts of article dealing with promotion.) Pharmaceutical companies have tried to influence opinions about benzodiazepines in three ways. First, they have funded a number of symposia in the United States, Britain and elsewhere attended by experts of their own choosing who are considered largely sympathetic to their products. Second, companies have tried to influence the climate of opinion through academic research and critique. In some instances they have used their own staff to write academic reviews that question the credibility of their scientific critics. Finally, they have resorted to litigation against those high-profile experts who have been perceived as undertaking a vendetta against one of their products.

Keywords:
*analysis/benzodiazepines/ sponsored symposia & conferences/ reaction to critics/ company supplied articles/PROMOTION DISGUISED: CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS/PROMOTION DISGUISED: DISINFORMATION AND HARASSMENT/PROMOTION DISGUISED: GHOST-WRITING AND JOURNAL ARTICLES/PROMOTION IN SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC AREAS: PSYCHIATRIC DISEASES/SPONSORSHIP: RESEARCH