15/01/2010 by admin.

Harvard University has tightened its regulations for doctors and scientists who consult for drug companies and medical device makers.

Ties between prominent doctors and drug companies have been scrutinised lately, especially by Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican.

About two dozen of Harvard’s highest flyers, those who sit on the boards of drug companies, are most affected. Under the rules, introduced on 1 January, they can earn no more than $5000 (£3100; 3440) per 10 hour day for service on the board of a drug or device company and may not accept company stock in payment.

The rules also apply to about 6000 doctors, researchers, institutional officers, and other employees at Partners HealthCare, a Harvard affiliated healthcare group.

Read article at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/340/jan12_2/c172

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15/01/2010 by admin.

England’s Department of Health has launched a consultation on proposals for automatic generic substitution, in which pharmacists could dispense generic forms of drugs instead of branded versions even if the prescribing doctor or nurse has written a prescription for a brand.

The consultation report outlines three options. The first is to keep the current arrangements, in which pharmacists are required to dispense exactly what is written on a prescription and cannot substitute a generic version for a brand name drug without prior agreement with the prescriber. The second would allow substitution of generic equivalents but would specify a list of exempt products. The third option, preferred by the health department, would allow generic substitution of a specified group of products.

Read article at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/340/jan08_3/c135

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15/01/2010 by admin.

Controversy has arisen at the World Health Organization after allegations that some WHO experts, including a leading vaccine adviser, have financial ties to the drug industry.

Documents acquired through the Danish Freedom of Information Act by the Danish daily newspaper Information show that Juhani Eskola, a Finnish vaccines adviser on the WHO board, has received £5.6m (6.2m; $9m) for his research centre, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare. The money, from GlaxoSmithKline for research on vaccines during 2009, is the institute’s main source of income.

Professor Eskola is the deputy director general of the institute and a member of WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), which advises member states on which vaccines to use and how much of these they should purchase.

GlaxoSmithKline produces the H1N1 vaccine Pandemrix, which the Finnish government stockpiled after recommendations from Professor Eskola’s institute and WHO.

Read article at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/340/jan12_2/c201

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15/01/2010 by admin.

Drug companies are being accused of unnecessarily raising fears over the H1N1 swine flu virus so as to increase profits by boosting sales of their new vaccines.

The allegations, made in the parliamentary assembly of the Strasbourg based Council of Europe, are surfacing as several countries, notably the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, are looking to dispose of excess supplies of the unwanted vaccines (BMJ 2010;340:c170, 11 Jan, doi:10.1136/bmj.c170).

Wolfgang Wodarg, a German Social Democrat MP and chairman of the assembly’s health subcommittee, is, with the support of a cross party group of Council of Europe parliamentarians, pressing for a pan-European investigation into the role of the companies in the current pandemic.

“We have twice had major alarms. The first was with bird flu, and now this. It looks like a big marketing campaign for extra profits and costs health authorities a lot of money,” he said.

Read article at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/340/jan12_2/c198

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