Healthy Skepticism Library item: 18781
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: news
Williams RT
Indispensable role to play
The Toronto Star 2010 Oct 24
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/880102--indispensable-role-to-play
Full text:
Re: Study ties drug firm promotions to bad health, Oct. 20
The most recent Joel Lexchin study to try to undermine the work of the
pharmaceutical industry in Canada has a totally different conclusion
than the one painted in the Star article.
Lexchin’s paper states: “. . . it is not possible to conclude that
exposure to [drug] information actually causes any changes in
physician behaviour.” The conclusions of his own report are even more
revealing: “. . . we are unable to reach any definitive conclusions
about the degree to which information from pharmaceutical companies
increases, decreases or has no effect on the frequency, cost or
quality of prescribing.” This PLoS Medicine journal article tells us
more about the negative bias of the author and his friends toward the
innovative pharmaceutical industry in Canada rather than about
pharmaceutical representatives and medicines. The author is a member
of Healthy Skepticism Inc., a body whose aim is to reduce “harm from
misleading health information.” One should wonder in this case if
Lexchin is not misleading Star readers.
The reality is that our industry has earned the reputation of being a
world leader in promoting the principals of ethical conduct. The
highly trained representatives in our industry provide health-care
professionals with science-based information on new medicines and
vaccines that help save and improve lives. As products become
increasingly complex and part of overall treatment regimens, they have
an indispensable role to play in providing advice to physicians.
Russell T. Williams, President, Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical
Companies (Rx&D), Ottawa
