medicine conflicts of interest

[Marta Russell]

Conflicts of interest are eroding public trust in medicine. Suspicions
are raised about the integrity of Government health care
recommendations--are they part of a commercial marketing campaign? The
Boston Globe reports that the Government's recommendation about
cholesterol-lowering drugs is being viewed with suspicion.

"  as doctors and pharmaceutical companies commingle in growing numbers,
critics say, it becomes difficult to judge whether these and other
recommendations are truly free of industry influence. At least five of
the
22 members on the panel of cholesterol specialists who set the
guidelines reported receiving funding or grants at some point from
companies selling or developing cholesterol-lowering drugs. Some of the
key studies in the field were also funded by the companies.

''We just don't know whether or not we are looking at the best route to
reducing cholesterol,'' said Sheldon Krimsky, a professor of urban and
environmental policy and planning at Tufts University. ''You usually
don't
hear about industry lobbying unless something goes wrong. But I'm fairly
confident that with billions of dollars going to pharmaceutical
companies, something was happening behind the scenes.''

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOSTON GLOBE

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/151/nation/Drug_makers_influence_pondered%2b.shtml

Drug makers' influence pondered Eye on US advice to cut cholesterol
By Naomi Aoki, Globe Staff, 5/31/2001