NEJM revereses policy on writers having drug co ties

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In a message dated 6/20/02 10:49:03 PM, Mr_Tracys_Corner

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<< Conflict of Interest?

 

Medical Journal Changes Policy of Finding Independent

 

Doctors to Write

 

 

By John McKenzie

 

 

 

June 12

 

— Is it a case of, " If you can't beat 'em, join 'em? "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New England Journal of Medicine will announce

 

Thursday that it has given up finding truly

 

independent doctors to write and review articles and

 

editorials for it, as a result of the financial ties

 

physicians have with so many drug companies in the

 

United States The Journal says the drug companies'

 

reach is just too deep.

 

In 2000, the drug industry sponsored more than 314,000

 

events for physicians — everything from luncheons to

 

getaway weekends — at a cost of almost $2 billion. On

 

top of that, many doctors accept speaking and

 

consulting fees that link them to drug companies.

 

 

No publication in this country influences the way your

 

doctor treats an illness more than the New England

 

Journal of Medicine. Since 1812, the Journal has

 

scrutinized and published thousands of clinical

 

studies.

 

 

These " review " articles on drug therapy that can be

 

pivotal. They tell doctors the strengths and

 

weaknesses of new medications for everything form high

 

blood pressure to obesity to cancer.

 

 

Now, the Journal will allow these critical evaluations

 

to be written by people with financial ties to drug

 

companies.

 

 

" This change will allow us to recruit the best

 

authors, the people who have experience with new

 

treatments to write these editorials and review

 

articles, " said Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, the medical

 

journal's editor-in-chief.

 

 

Under the new policy, doctors writing reviews in the

 

Journal can accept up to $10,000 a year from each drug

 

company in speaking fees and consulting fees.

 

 

Concerns About Possible Bias

 

 

Not everyone thinks this is such a good idea.

 

 

" So if a doctor is doing that kind of business with

 

four or five companies, he or she can get as much [as]

 

$40- to 50,000 a year and not violate the new New

 

England Journal policy, " said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the

 

director of the Public Citizen Health Research Group,

 

one of the country's largest medical consumer groups.

 

 

" The bias introduced by drug companies paying writers

 

of review articles a large amount of money can have

 

the consequence of slanting articles and influencing

 

physicians in a way that isn't really in the best

 

interests of their patients, " said Wolfe.

 

 

The Journal, in a letter to its readers, says the

 

policy change is necessary because it simply could not

 

find enough qualified authors who did not already have

 

ties to drug companies.

 

 

" There are areas where we simply have not published

 

anything because we didn't think we could get a person

 

who was good to write in an area that had absolutely

 

no interaction with a commercial entity, " said Drazen.

 

 

 

But Jerome Kassirer, who was the Journal's editor

 

between 1991 and 1999, says he had no problem finding

 

independent authors.

 

 

" There's a lot of depth in academic medicine,

 

sufficient depth, so that it's almost always possible

 

to find a first-class person to write an editorial or

 

review article in which they do not have a conflict of

 

interest, " said Kassirer, now a professor at the Tufts

 

University School of Medicine.

 

 

Some doctors are concerned that by relaxing

 

conflict-of-interest standards, the Journal is

 

reducing the prestige and influence that it has taken

 

190 years to build.

 

 

 

 

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