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THE SUBTLE CHARMS OF THE DRUG COMPANIES: Funding that buys complicity

 

Take a look behind most large 'patient groups' or illness support groups and

you'll find the benevolent hand of a drug company. It may be funding the group

with a small donation, or perhaps it helped develop the website-all small change

to the drug company, but it's a vital injection of funds for the group, and it's

enough to buy their support.

 

Just ask one of these large groups about alternative remedies or non-drug

therapies, and you'll quickly discover just how loyal they can be to their

benefactor. And their approach adds credibility to the drugs approach (even

though few in the media seem to realize it is a stance that has been bought).

 

This age-old strategy has finally come to the attention of the American group

for senior citizens, AARP, which has 35 million members aged over 50. AARP has

discovered that three rival groups, the United Seniors Association, the Seniors

Coalition and the 60-Plus Association, have all received substantial drug

company funding in the last few years.

 

While UK patient groups may be thankful for a donation of a few thousand pounds,

their American counterparts have enjoyed extraordinary largesse from the drug

companies, including the funding of a multi-million dollar tv advertising

campaign. Mind you, much of the advert was devoted to extolling the virtues of

the drugs industry.

 

As an AARP spokesman said: " When the pharmaceutical industry speaks these days,

many Americans may not be able to recognize its voice. That's because the

industry often uses 'front groups' that work to advance its agenda under the

veil of other interests. "

 

When asked to comment about the allegations, a spokesman for the American drugs

industry was nonplussed. " I don't see a problem here, " he said.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2003; 326: 351).

 

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