Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13631

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: Journal Article

Friedman JH.
My ties to big pharma.
Med Health R I 2008 Mar; 91:(3):70-1
http://www.rimed.org/pdf/mhri/m08Marmhri.pdf

Abstract:

Recently I was reviewing a submission to the journal and wondered why the author hadn’t discussed a certain medication. While this particular use of the medicine was “off label,” it was a common use. Some of the other drugs mentioned in the article were also commonly used, and also were being recommended for “off label” use. As soon as I wrote my comment I realized that I had a conflict of interest. I was a speaker for the company that sold the drug I recommended. Not just that either, I was a “KOL!” (I learned about KOLs when I was told that my speaking engagements would be limited so that the company didn’t run into trouble with the FDA because I was a KOL. Since I didn’t know what a KOL was, I asked, and learned that I was a “Key Opinion Leader.”) So, here I am, a national spokesman, sort of, for a company that makes a drug I’m touting in a review article by someone else for an off label indication.

This raised an immediate alarm within my head. How was I to edit a journal when I had a variety of potential conflicts of interest?…

Keywords:
MeSH Terms: Conflict of Interest* Drug Industry* Periodicals as Topic/standards* Physician's Role