Big Pharma Advertising biases Medical Journal studies

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Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, February 5, 2009

Pharmaceutical Advertising Biases Journals Against Vitamin Supplements

 

(OMNS, February 5, 2009) It may be the worst-kept secret in medicine:

pharmaceutical money buys journal influence. What the public has so long

suspected

has now been demonstrated in a recently published peer-reviewed study. (1)

Researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University

of Florida found that " in major medical journals, more pharmaceutical

advertising is associated with publishing fewer articles about dietary

supplements. "

Furthermore, they found that more pharmaceutical company advertising resulted

in the journal having more articles with " negative conclusions about dietary

supplement safety. "

This new study, the first of its kind, specifically looked at pharmaceutical

advertising as compared with journal text about dietary supplements. The

authors reviewed a year's worth of issues from each of eleven of the largest

medical journals: the Journal of the American Medical Association, New England

Journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal, Canadian Medical Association

Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine, Archives of Internal Medicine, Archives

of

Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Pediatrics and Pediatric Research, and

American Family Physician.

The results were statistically significant. . . and embarrassing. Medical

journals carrying the most pharmaceutical ads " published significantly fewer

major articles about dietary supplements per issue than journals with the

fewest pharmads (P < 0.01). Journals with the most pharmads published no

clinical

trials or cohort studies about supplements. The percentage of major articles

concluding that supplements were unsafe was 4% in journals with fewest and

67% among those with the most pharmads (P = 0.02). " The authors concluded that

" the impact of advertising on publications " is real, and said that " the

ultimate impact of this bias on professional guidelines, health care, and

health

policy is a matter of great public concern. "

Indeed it is. Health care costs are rising and drug profits are enormous.

Canadian psychiatrist Abram Hoffer, M.D, Ph.D., says: " We all have to work hard

to educate the public about the merits of sane treatment for everyone, where

the patient is primary, not Big Pharma. " Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D., of the

Karolinska Institute in Sweden, comments that " Positive reports about the

effects of high-dose vitamins have long been ignored by the medical

establishment instead of being further examined scientifically. "

When patients ask about nutritional treatments, many a family physician has

replied, " I've never seen any studies supporting the safety or efficacy of

vitamin supplements in my professional journals. The research is simply not

there. "

Sadly, they are right. And now we know why.

Major medical journals, their editors, and their authors appear to be on the

take. Harsh words? Perhaps, but only because the truth is harsh. " One the

take " refers to receiving cash in exchange for influence. It is naive to assume

that money does not corrupt. Promoting vested interests masquerading as

science is wrong and it must be stopped. At the very least, accepting money

carries an obligation to account for the source of that money. All medical

journals should be compelled to print a full disclosure in every issue

itemizing

exactly how much money comes from exactly which sources.

Any medical journal that won't disclose has a reason to not disclose. And

that reason has nothing to do with public health. It's about private cash. The

cash that induces the journals to sway the doctors to persuade the public.

If the medical journals deny this, let them prove it with full disclosure.

Now.

References:

(1) Kemper KJ, Hood KL. Does pharmaceutical advertising affect journal

publication about dietary supplements? BMC Complement Altern Med. 2008 Apr

9;8:11.

Full text at _http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/8/11_

(http://www.orthomolecular.org/12all/lt/t_go.php?i=113 & e=MzI3MjQ= & l=http://www.b\

iomedcentral.com/

1472-6882/8/11) or

_http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed & pubmedid=184000\

92_

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-pubmed--A-pubmedid--E-18400092)

 

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Editorial Review Board:

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