Published 2013.01.15 in CommPRO.biz

‘Big Pharma’s’ C-Suite 

All Money, No Ethics?

Groundbreaking investigative reporting by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and MedPage Today has exposed disgusting conflicts of interest in the guidelines doctors follow in treating almost every malady known to mankind. The various branches of medicine convene “panels” of their member doctors to examine the scientific evidence and create clinical practice guidelines for their members.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM), part of the National Academy of Sciences, an independent, nonprofit organization –not an arm of the government– has some pretty straightforward rules on how these panels are to be set up. They are very clear especially when it comes to a panel member’s connections to those peddling medications or other treatment tools. Less than half of the panel is to have a financial relationship with a company connected to the condition. The panel Chair is never to have such a relationship; pretty low ethical bars.

The Journal Sentinel/MedPage Today looked at a cross section of 16 panels that were willing to disclose conflicts. Of those only two met the IOM standard and at least ten panels (62.5%) were chaired by doctors with Big Pharma financial ties. The journalists looked at twenty clinical practice guidelines for conditions that may be treated in the US by blockbuster drugs like Lipitor, Cymbalta, OxyContin, and Nexium. Nine of the guidelines were written by panels with more than 80% of the doctors on Big Pharma payrolls. What do you think they recommend?

Overall, of the panels that even check for conflict of interest, 66% of the docs had connections to Big Pharma. “Some guidelines recommend drugs not scientifically proven to safely treat conditions, leading to inappropriate or over-prescribing, specifically guidelines for anemia, chronic pain, and asthma,” the journalists report. Research funded by drug companies was not counted as a conflict in the Journal Sentinel/MedPage Today investigative report, just fees for speaking, consulting and advising.

Big Pharma and other interested parties, including some docs, contend that all the top people have financial deals. They say it would be impossible to put together expert panels if you disqualify those with conflicts. We wonder how that came to be? Is it possible that those peddling drugs and medical gadgetry from artificial body parts to hi-tech imagery would seek out and sign-up as many of the very top doctors as they can when their bottom line might benefit? Of course they would and they have! How about the docs; how could any doctor consider serving on a panel related to companies they have accepted cash or other goodies from?

The companies have been slapped with massive fines to no avail. “What we’re learning is that money doesn’t deter corporate malfeasance,” says Eliot Spitzer, former New York State Attorney General. “The only thing that will work in my view is CEOs being forced to resign and individual culpability being enforced.” We agree. When there are billions in profits to be gained, fines are just another cost of doing business for these companies.