03/03/2010 by admin.

The March 2010 issue of Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) [volume 48,
number 3] contains an editorial and three articles. The editorial discusses
cardiovascular risk assessment tools. The first article is a review of the
cardiovascular safety concerns associated with NSAIDs. The second article
discusses managing asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism.  The third
article reviews the use of body surface area to adjust drug doses. A
podcast outlining what is in the March issue is also available via our
website www.dtb.bmj.com.

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22/02/2010 by OmarJ.

An interesting letter in the BMJ highlights the incredible level of penetration that the pharmaceutical industry has in the mainstream media. This time they’re encouraging doctors to speak disparagingly about the safety of generic medicines.

The doctor interviewed in the original article is described as a prominent cardiologist, but the reporter fails to mention the numerous financial conflicts of interest that he has, including receiving financial donations from GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of two drugs mentioned in the article. Bad reporting? I’ll leave it to the reader to judge.

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18/02/2010 by admin.

The February 2010 issue of Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) [volume 48,
number 2] contains an editorial and three articles. The editorial discusses
concerns arising from the European Commission’s proposals for changing the
arrangements for licensing drugs and monitoring patient safety. The first
article is a review of the management of community-associated MRSA. The
second article discusses the use of ▼Pregabalin for generalised anxiety
disorder.  The third article highlights changes to the reporting of HbA1c
levels. A podcast outlining what is in the February issue is also available
via our website www.dtb.bmj.com.

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02/02/2010 by admin.

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that it will make the chemical structures of 13 500 compounds with potential antimalarial activity freely available on scientific websites to encourage research into new drugs for malaria.

For full article, http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/jan25_2/c465.

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02/02/2010 by admin.

 This study looks at the 50 top medical centres in the US and their policies on ghostwriting. The authors found that only 26% of institutions have policy on ghostwriting.

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000230

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27/01/2010 by OmarJ.

The idea that the Western world is somehow more ‘advanced’ when it comes to issues of medical ethics and professionalism has been completely destroyed by the news that the Indian Medical Council will be introducing sweeping reforms of the rules governing industry relations. So how binding are these new regulations? A swift glance at the abstract, conveniently discussed here by Howard Brody on his brilliant ‘Hooked’ blog, shows just how major these changes are:

• No more gifts. Full stop. No specification on the price of gifts, meaning even gifts as small as pens and post-it notes are covered. To those who think this might be overkill, I suggest you read about the fascinating topic of Cognitive Dissonance. (I know, it’s a Wikipedia article, but it’s a really good introduction to the topic.)
• No more grants. Full stop. It doesn’t matter what they’re being paid for, Indian doctors will no longer be allowed to receive money from the pharmaceutical industry.  Funding for medical research must be approved by the necessary institutions, and information on these transactions will be in the public domain.
• No drug endorsements. This has been in effect since 2002.
• Violation of any of these rules will be treated as ‘Misconduct’, which means they can be punishable with penalties and possible suspension.

All in all, this is a huge step in ensuring public trust in the medical profession in India is retained.

Thanks, India, for showing the rest of the world that it is possible to stand up to the self-serving logic that has perpetuated these unethical practices for so long. It’s time the Western World stood up and noticed.

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26/01/2010 by admin.

The marketing team sued over a drug’s alleged side effects tried to suppress key data, an ex-employee has claimed.

Seroquel’s former UK medical adviser told the BBC he was pressured to approve promotional material which said weight gain was not an issue.

Maker AstraZeneca, which faces fresh legal action next month, said it took concerns about its conduct seriously.

In the same programme, the British Medical Journal editor urged that the medicine licensing system be reviewed.

Dr Fiona Godlee said industry should no longer provide the evaluations of its own drugs which the licensing body considered.

For full article go to, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8478924.stm

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24/01/2010 by OmarJ.

The lawyers and settlements blog has a great article that gives a good little synopsis of the arguments against direct-to-consumer advertising in the US, or as we call it in Europe, information to patients. It strikes me as an odd source for a feature on this blog, but I won’t let that get in the way of my enjoying a well written, rational article.While I highly recommend you go there and read it, here are a few of the main points made in the article:

• Industry spending on marketing went up from $11 billion in 1996 to $30 billion in 2005
• Between 1999 and 2000, sales of advertised drugs increased by 24% (!!!), compared with just 4.3% for non-advertised drugs.
• Most interestingly, several states are proposing legislation that will curb direct to consumer advertising, or, at least, force pharmaceutical companies to be more open about their marketing practices. Good progress, I say.

It’s really easy to downplay the effects that marketing practices have. After all, how could a simple advert have such a profound effect on consumer practice? But the evidence speaks for itself, and companies wouldn’t be spending so much money on marketing if it didn’t work.The upside of that is, if marketing is the reason that some drugs do well, where does that leave evidence-based medicine?

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24/01/2010 by admin.

John Dalli, a former Maltese economy and social affairs minister, will have more influence over public health policy than any of his predecessors when he takes up his post as the European Union’s health commissioner next month.

Mr Dalli has set out his priorities. He will press ahead with two relatively non-controversial pharmaceutical proposals already on the table: stepping up measures against counterfeit drugs and improving pharmacovigilance.

But he expressed strong concerns about controversial plans to allow drug companies to communicate directly with the public by allowing companies, under certain conditions, to publish information on their products in newspapers and magazines.

“We will reassess the package on information and bring more patient perspective to the proposal,” he said, adding that the reassessment would include stronger demarcation between information and advertising. “You do not want a situation where people in a vulnerable position can be coerced to purchase a product that may not be good for them,” he said

For full article, go to http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/jan20_2/c353

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24/01/2010 by admin.

The European Commission is stepping up pressure on drug companies it suspects of using illegal sweetener deals to protect their patents and prevent cheaper generic drugs from entering the market.

Just three weeks before she is due to stand down as European Union Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes has asked several European companies to supply her staff with copies of their patent settlement agreements.

The commission did not divulge the identities of the companies it had targeted. But several confirmed they had been contacted and asked to provide documentation, including annexes, of all agreements with generic drug producers concluded between 1 July 2008 and 31 December 2009. These included AstraZeneca plc, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, and Roche.

For full article, go to http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/jan15_2/c268 

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