Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13415

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Publication type: news

Ryan S.
Psychiatrists play musical chairs
The Australian 2008 Apr 4
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23481767-5013404,00.html

Full text:

A LONG-TIME recipient of pharmaceutical industry funding has been chosen by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists to replace its 2009 congress convenor, who resigned last week over concerns about drug company sponsorship.

The appointment came as itemerged the sponsorship issue had led to further resignations from the nine-member committee that sets the congress’s agenda.

RANZCP president Ken Kirkby said some members of the committee had handed in their resignations, although he could not say how many.

But sources told The Australian at least two committee members had quit following Malcolm Battersby’s decision to resign as convenor after unsuccessfully pushing for a RANZCP policy change to ban drug company sponsorship of its annual congress.

Robert Goldney, professor of psychiatry at the University of Adelaide, was one of two co-convenors named yesterday to fill Dr Battersby’s place.

The other appointee is Ross Kalucy, head of Flinders University’s Department of Psychiatry.

Professor Goldney has served on a drug advisory board for Wyeth Australia and Lundbeck Australia, and received speaker’s fees, travel assistance and research grants from the industry.

Other companies that have funded his activities include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen-Cilag, Organon, Pfizer Australia and Sanofi-Synthelabo, according to his past declarations of competing interests.

Last week, a Medicines Australia report revealed for the first time the amount of money drug companies spend on sponsoring doctors’ education activities, with their combined budgets hitting $31million in six months.

The industry and Australian Medical Association have defended the links, despite concerns they could unduly influence doctors’ prescribing habits.

The RANZCP congress is one of the biggest educational events for psychiatrists in Australia and New Zealand each year, attracting about 600 to 700 attendees.

This year, it awarded its gold sponsorships to drug giants AstraZeneca Neuroscience, Lilly and Pfizer Australia.

Dr Kirkby yesterday said he saw no conflict of interests and strongly backed Professor Goldney’s and Professor Burrows’s appointments on the basis of their expertise and high profiles.

Dr Goldney declined to comment, on the basis that he hadonly just been informed of the appointment.