Doctors paid to put their name to pharmaceutical companies' research

February 28, 2002

Feb 12, 2002 (Datamonitor) - Less than a week after the University of

Toronto found that many American doctors writing treatment guidelines

did not disclose financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, allegations

have been made that some doctors are behaving even more unethically by

allowing pharmaceutical firms to write and publish academic papers in

their names.

It is suspected that doctors are being paid vast sums to let

pharmaceutical companies use their names to add gravitas to their

papers. According to Professor Farthing, the chairman of the

Committee on Publication Ethics, there have been cases of research,

seemingly from well-respected doctors, being manipulated to support a

drug. " The potential is that an ineffective or relatively weak drug will

become registered for use on the basis of this analysis, " Professor

Farthing told BBC News Online. " That is probably uncommon, but it could

skew the results of a meta-analysis - in which several studies on the

same drug are looked at together. " " Doctors are signing off the material

as bona fide, and there is a real responsibility on them. If they can't

stand up and speak on its veracity, they are running the risk of

research and publication misconduct. "

Recommended Posts