Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17469

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: Electronic Source

Rubenstein S
Grassley Knocks Radio Host Goodwin for Drug-Industry Conflicts
The Wall Street Journal Blog 2008 Nov 21
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/11/21/grassley-knock-npr-host-goodwin-for-drug-industry-conflicts/

Full text:

Sen. Chuck Grassley is squawking about another eyebrow-raising conflict-of-interest in psychiatry. This tale of drug-industry influence comes with another twist: It involves National Public Radio.

Perhaps you’ve listened to The Infinite Mind, the popular public-radio program hosted by psychiatrist Frederick Goodwin (pictured). On the award-winning program, Goodwin has talked about some big topics in the field that have also mattered commercially to drug makers, including one program in which he said “there is no credible evidence linking antidepressants to violence or suicide,” as quoted in the New York Times story on Goodwin this morning.

Well, it turns out Goodwin raked in at least $1.3 million from 2000 to 2007 giving marketing lectures for drug makers, the NYT reports. That includes some $20,000 from GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of antidepressant Paxil, the same week he hosted that show on antidepressants.

“The Infinite Mind” is being canceled. The folks in charge of the program, including Goodwin, say in retrospect that Goodwin’s conflicts should have been disclosed. But they aren’t seeing eye to eye on the history. Goodwin, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, told the Times that the program’s producer, Bill Lichtenstein, knew about the consulting gigs but that neither of the two men thought “getting money from drug companies could be an issue.”

But here’s what Lichtenstein told the Times: “The fact that he was out on the stump for pharmaceutical companies was not something we were aware of. It would have violated our agreements.”

As for Glaxo, a spokeswoman told NYT the company believes in disclosure, including to public-radio listeners.

Check out Pharmalot for some interesting resources, including details on Goodwin’s ties to Glaxo and a link to the Congressional Record with more on Grassley’s findings.

Grand Rounds: Here’s a roundup of Grassley’s revelations on industry payments to leading psychiatrists at Emory, the University of Texas, Stanford and Harvard.

Correction: “The Infinite Mind” has been carried on NPR’s Sirius Satellite Radio channel and other public radio stations, but it isn’t produced by NPR. Lichtenstein Creative Media produces the show. The initial version of this post called “The Infinite Mind” an NPR program.