April 16, 2008.
Why Don't They Just Pay Us To Swallow Their Pills?

Today in JAMA an article came out about how drug companies pay "ghost writers" to write favorable
articles about their drugs and then pay doctors and researchers
with established reputations in their field to be listed as the
author of the paper. That made it look like a professor from
a university had performed the research and written the paper, when
in fact it had been done by the drug company. In one case a basically
finished paper that listed as the first author "External Author?"
was later published with a doctor from an outside university listed as the first author.
Merck spewed out favorable papers about Vioxx while tens of thousands
of people were dropping dead from heart attacks that they could have
avoided by taking a Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)
which costs a tenth as much and works just as well. In a somewhat hilarious
response to a question about the Assessment of Differences Between Vioxx and
Naproxen to Ascertain Gastrointestinal Tolerability and Effectiveness
(ADVANTAGE) study, the first author said “Merck designed the trial, paid for the
trial, ran the trial . . . Merck came to me after the study was completed and said,
‘We want your help to work on the paper.’ The initial paper was written at
Merck, and then was sent to me for editing.”

So my question is, given that the drug companies are spending so much
money to do questionable studies clearly aimed at promoting drug sales,
paying ghost writers and doctors to promote their dubious claims,
why don't they just use that money to pay the patients themselves
to swallow their drugs? I mean most people don't see the bills for their
drugs since the insurance companies are paying for their drugs,
and nobody likes insurance companies anyway. That way if the patients
dropped dead from the drug at least they wouldn't feel like they
didn't get anything out of the arrangement.

April 12, 2008.
Why Do So Many Americans Take Prescription Drugs?

hosted on Of Two Minds (Charles Hugh Smith)



My book 'Before You Take That Pill: Why the Drug Industry May be Bad for Your Health:
Risks and Side Effects You Won't Find on the Label of Commonly Prescribed Drugs, Vitamins, and Supplements'
is now available at amazon and at local Borders and Barnes and Noble book stores.

Doug Bremner, MD, is a physician and researcher in Atlanta GA
and author of Before You Take That Pill:
Why the Drug Industry May be
Bad for Your Health: Risks and Side Effects
You Won't Find on the Label of Commonly Prescribed
Drugs, Vitamins and Supplements




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