Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7994

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

Godlee F.
Reputations for sale?
BMJ 2007;334 (27 January), 2007 Jan 27; 334:(7586):0
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7586/0

Abstract:

This week, BBC’s Panorama programme again revisits the controversy surrounding the SSRI Seroxat. Its 2002 investigation into reports of adverse events from Seroxat prompted 67 000 people to contact the BBC, forcing a rethink of the safety data. Now GlaxoSmithKline faces legal action and, if found culpable, the possibility of huge payouts to thousands of patients.

As Joe Collier explains in his preview of this week’s Panorama, to be aired on Monday 29 January (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39104.771597.59), the focus this time is on the interplay between industry and the forces that should counter what he calls “the adverse effects of drug companies.” Panorama’s account of GlaxoSmithKline’s successful attempts to market Seroxat for use in children, despite the fact that its own published trial found evidence of serious adverse effects and failed to show benefit, is fascinating but depressingly familiar. The Vioxx story, told last week (BMJ 20 . . .

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