corner
Healthy Skepticism
Join us to help reduce harm from misleading health information.
Increase font size   Decrease font size   Print-friendly view   Print
Register Log in

Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15385

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

Tremblay M.
Commentary: Risks of doing as the Romans do.
BMJ 2009 Mar 31; 338:b1107:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/338/mar31_3/b1107


Abstract:

Garattini and Chalmers (doi:10.1136/bmj.b1025) make four suggestions to improve the evaluation of drugs-involve patients in establishing research priorities, improve the transparency of drug evaluations and studies, fund independent drug evaluations, and require evidence that new drugs have added clinical value. Although controversial, many of their proposals would benefit patients. However, their suggestion to follow the Italian approach to funding independent clinical trials is unlikely to be a good idea.

In 2003, Italy decided to establish a tax on the drug industry of 5% of their medicines advertising budget. This money is used by the state medicines agency, AIFA, to fund clinical research on the efficacy of orphan drugs, comparisons of drugs for the same indication, observational outcome studies, and pharmacovigilance.1 2

We know that there are real problems with clinical trials as currently conducted, such as the use of surrogate end points, weak information on long term efficacy, and . . .

 

  Healthy Skepticism on RSS   Healthy Skepticism on Facebook   Healthy Skepticism on Twitter

Please
Click to Register

(read more)

then
Click to Log in
for free access to more features of this website.

Forgot your username or password?

You are invited to
apply for membership
of Healthy Skepticism,
if you support our aims.

Pay a subscription

Support our work with a donation

Buy Healthy Skepticism T Shirts


If there is something you don't like, please tell us. If you like our work, please tell others.

Email a Friend








What these howls of outrage and hurt amount to is that the medical profession is distressed to find its high opinion of itself not shared by writers of [prescription] drug advertising. It would be a great step forward if doctors stopped bemoaning this attack on their professional maturity and began recognizing how thoroughly justified it is.
- Pierre R. Garai (advertising executive) 1963