[lit-ideas] for "Andy" and Pharma
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 07:11:54 EDT
_http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060420/ts_usatoday/studymedicalmanualsauth
orsoftentiedtodrugmakers;_ylt=AqCsCjhPz6tN_R1dj2CAhccDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szaz
kxBHNlYwN0bQ_
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060420/ts_usatoday/studymedicalmanualsauthorsoftentiedtodrugmakers;_ylt=AqCsCjhPz6tN_R1dj2CAhccDW7oF;_ylu=
X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ) --
This is kind of a "it doesn't take a rocket scientist", but hey.... (and
the last line is so compelling -- didn't Vergano ever take Comp & Rhetoric
101?).
<<Study: Medical manual's authors often tied to drugmakers
By Dan Vergano, USA TODAYThu Apr 20, 7:03 AM ET
A majority of the medical experts who created the "bible" for diagnosing
mental illness have undisclosed financial links to drugmakers, says a study out
Thursday.
And some panels overseeing disorders that require treatment with prescription
drugs, such as schizophrenia and "mood disorders," were 100% filled with
experts financially tied to the pharmaceutical industry, says the study
published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) is the
American Psychiatric Association's diagnosis manual. It is also used as the
basis
for insurance payments for psychiatric treatments, including drugs.
"No blood tests exist for the disorders in the DSM. It relies on judgments
from practitioners who rely on the manual," says lead study author Lisa
Cosgrove of the University of Massachusetts Boston.
The researchers looked for research funds, consultancies, patents and other
gifts or grants received by members of the 18 separate DSM preparation panels
from 1989 to 2004, both before and after their terms.
They found that among the 170 medical experts who created the two most recent
editions of the manual, 56% had one or more financial ties to the
pharmaceutical industry. In addition to the schizophrenia and mood disorder
panels'
links, more than 80% of panel members for "anxiety disorders," "eating
disorders," "medication-induced movement disorders" and "premenstrual
dysphonic
disorder" had financial ties.
"Psychiatrists rely on the APA (American Psychiatric Association) to police
its activities, and we take that responsibility very seriously," association
psychiatrist Darrel Regier says. The next edition, scheduled for release in
2011, will disclose all industry financial ties to panel members, he says,
either in the manual or on a website.
"I don't think that's good enough. People don't poke around in the latest
issue looking for conflict-of-interest statements," says physician Peter Lurie
of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.
Ideally, the DSM would be created by experts without any financial links to
drugmakers, he says.
The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association responded, in a statement by
spokesman Ken Johnson, that the health care professionals on these panels "have
impeccable integrity and base their decisions on independent judgments and
research."
This month, the journal PLOS Medicine accused the drug industry of
"disease-mongering," inventing diseases from everyday aggravations, such
"restless
legs syndrome," and widening definitions to sweep up more patients.
Psychologist David Healy of the United Kingdom's Cardiff University notes
that recent revisions to the DSM eliminated a subtype of schizophrenia that
responded poorly to drugs. And "melancholia" was eliminated in favor of major
depressive disorder, Healy says. "The upshot is that some patients are going to
lose out," he says.
Regier disputes the claims.>>
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