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        New Message Board Archives >> 2004 Posts >> Medical Journals Grow a Spine
        
(Message started by: floridian on Sep 10^th, 2004, 9:02am)

Title: Medical Journals Grow a Spine
Post by floridian on Sep 10^th, 2004, 9:02am

Finally.

Quote:

A dozen editors of prestigious medical journals have announced they will refuse to publish drug research sponsored by pharmaceutical companies unless the studies are registered in a public database from the outset.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1195411.htm
http://tinyurl.com/4j6tq

Why is this important? Case in point: The three studies that showed that SSRIs helped children with depression were published and trumpeted in marketing campaigns to convince doctors that kids need SSRIs. The twelve studies that showed that these meds were not beneficial (or were harmful) never saw the light of day. The industry was not always interested in science - they were cherry-picking results to sell product, not to help people. The words "criminal conspiracy" come to mind.

This is a big step in the right direction. Studies have to be registered from the start. Positive and negative findings must be disclosed. Or the study isn't admissible as evidence.

edited to fix link - to source with no registration required

Title: Re: Medical Journals Grow a Spine
Post by thomas on Sep 10^th, 2004, 9:31am

A ray of hope.

Title: Re: Medical Journals Grow a Spine
Post by Karla on Sep 10^th, 2004, 9:36am

I had no idea. Very interesting info.

Title: Re: Medical Journals Grow a Spine
Post by Kevin_M on Sep 10^th, 2004, 10:04am

Well worded commentary Florid, explicit and to the point. Very politely clusterheadish of you, thanks. ;;D

Lacks the five pages of selective newbyism that has been saying MUCH less.
Sorry, ranting, but this was refreshing to read.

Thanks again.

Kevin M

Title: Re: Medical Journals Grow a Spine
Post by Samantha_Smith on Sep 10^th, 2004, 10:55am

Thanks Floridian! Great news!

Title: Re: Medical Journals Grow a Spine
Post by Lizzie2 on Sep 10^th, 2004, 12:54pm

So I have a question....

If a center does research on a drug for headache treatment, and the grant for the money comes from Eli-Lilly educational grant or GSK or any of those places...

that research is no longer valid and won't be published?

Damn...there goes a lot of the hard work I was helping with...

Title: Re: Medical Journals Grow a Spine
Post by floridian on Sep 10^th, 2004, 1:37pm

No, this is not about funding. Researchers are already supposed to disclose where their money comes from, any way. Having a company fund research into its products is OK, provided the people doing the research are independent. What this means is that plans to do a study must be announced in advance and the results made public if the researchers want to publish those results. Results would be public regardless of what the researchers find. Right now, researchers are often obligated to the source of funding - if a study shows that a med is innefective, the company can legally prevent the researcher from publishing. This breaks the "only say good things about our product" clause in the contract - if a researcher agrees to the "only say good things" clause, the journals will not publish because that is not good science.

Not sure if they are going to phase this requirement in - otherwise, the journals might go a few months or a year with few studies to report.

Title: Re: Medical Journals Grow a Spine
Post by Lizzie2 on Sep 10^th, 2004, 1:47pm

Ok I just read some more and think it makes more sense now! So basically if someone is doing a trial...regardless of who funds it, they want the "hypothesis" to be reported in a public database, and then the results to be reported there when they are available..regardless of whether or not the trial will get published in a journal?

I guess from what I saw, we published anything we did, I think! I would need to know more I guess...!

Title: Re: Medical Journals Grow a Spine
Post by alleyoop on Sep 10^th, 2004, 9:38pm

Great news and a great post Floridian! THANKS!

..............................alley