Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17565

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

Delamothe T
Data sharing: let the sunshine in
BMJ 2010 Apr 7; 340:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/340/apr07_2/c1896

Abstract:

For an anti-Vietnam musical, Hair has some pretty uplifting songs, none more so than “Let the sunshine in.” Forty years after the words were first sung, they’re finally being taken seriously. Letting the sunshine in has now become the panacea for most modern afflictions-from the scandal of British MPs’ expenses to “climategate.”

Concerned about the influence of drug and device manufacturers? Obama’s healthcare reform bill compels them to disclose all payments to doctors (BMJ 2010;340:c1648). Such rules had first been proposed in the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which also mandated disclosure of payments to pharmacists, patient advocacy groups, medical schools, and providers of sponsored medical education (great ideas that other countries will want to take up).

Calls for drug companies and regulators to be more open with research findings are made virtually by the day. We wouldn’t have filled half a BMJ with concerns about Tamiflu (oseltamivir) if the . . .