Medical Journals Are an Extension of the Marketing Arm of Pharmaceutical

[Guest guest]

This is a very real issue.  The most flagrant example was the HIV therapeutic agent "Remune."  The company behind it managed to control the data in an unprecedented manner, and practically wrote the published article showing minimal benefit in a respected journal.   The problem has gotten more attention of late, but the very real problem remains a political atmosphere in Congress, which believes that the private sector does everything better........ including funding drug trials.    This is your Republican Congress at work!Still, the "vitamins vs pharmaceuticals" angle has nothing to do with the author's comments, and remains a false dichotomy.Vitamins have essential roles, so do medications.   So does government regulation and funding, and that is the bottom line.On Apr 6, 2006, at 5:05 PM, PozHealth wrote: Medical Journals Are an Extension of the Marketing Arm of Pharmaceutical Companies   is Chief Executive of UnitedHealth Europe, London, United Kingdom. E-mail:  richardswsmith@... Competing Interests: RS was an editor for the BMJ for 25 years. For the last 13 of those years, he was the editor and chief executive of the BMJ Publishing Group, responsible for the profits of not only the BMJ but of the whole group, which published some 25 other journals. He stepped down in July 2004. He is now a member of the board of the Public Library of Science, a position for which he is not paid. Barrowpozbod@...