Deceitful activity in drug companies

[Guest guest]

" In order to arrive at favorable results, industry-funded research trials are

often altered, forged, and manipulated to suit the cause, as was the case with

Pfizer. When Pfizer was sued back in 2004 for illegally promoting Neurontin, it

settled the case for $430 million. Expert witness Kay Dickersin of s Hopkins

University was able to obtain the documents revealed in her study while serving

for the case. Just last year, Pfizer was sued again using the original case as

well as being accused of manipulating study data.

" If a drug company wishes to change the goal of a particular study once it has

begun, it must be done formally through an official amendment. The fact that

most of the time this does not happen indicates that deceitful activity is

taking place. Dickersin suggests mandatory submission of study protocols and

primary endpoints when companies register clinical trials in the public

database. This will help to hold the drug companies accountable for their

undertakings and eliminate the tendency to alter data through dishonest means.

" Drug companies should also continue to be prosecuted to the full extent of the

law for their violations. Harsher penalties for blatant violations should be

implemented in order to reign in the violators and restore the integrity of the

clinical trial process. "

Sources for this story include

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSt...

http://www.naturalnews.com/027692_science_fraud_Neurontin.html

FYI,

Lottie Duthu