Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Conflict of Interest

        In the Drug article http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/sep/21/drugs-industry-scandal-ben-goldacre , a drug, Reboxetine, was used to replace placebo pills.  The drug was published as being better by drug reps and it was even approved by the MHRA.  The people publishing this drug had an interest in"making money." However doctors have an interest of "making patients better."  So the conflict was that making money put patients at risk. There was actually substancial evidence showing that Reboxetine was not as good as placebo pills and had worse side effects. This evidence was, however, not published due to the fact that the drug wouldn't be able to be marketed.  All in all you can see how this conflict of interest was very bad for patients and caused big problems.

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