Pharma Intimidating Researchers?
Is this honestly what we want from the companies that make drugs to treat our diseases? Can we honestly trust them? An excellent piece from Health Care Renewal:
So the theme is intimidation, coercion, and/or threatened punishment of health care professionals who dare to speak out about dangers of drugs or potential reseach misconduct of pharmaceutical companies. Particularly distressing was that in two cases (but presumably not that of Dr. Topol, to the credit of the Cleveland Clinic), pressure by a commercial entity apparently resulted in adverse action by the the professional’s employer, even though the employers in these cases, a UK university, and a US federal agency, ought by their very natures and stated missions to protect the rights of their professional employees to honestly communicate about scientific and medical matters.
Scary.
This is real irony. Dr. Topol was removed from his position as Provost of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine within a week of his testimony in the Vioxx trial. The administration has claimed to us students that it is because “the position was no longer needed”. Funny thing is, he was the guy who made the big decisions around here— and good ones. He always listened to us students and made changes to the program to reflect our wishes. Merck has done us all wrong in this.