Researcher urges govts to get tough on drug companies

[apothecary]

Hopefully they'll listen.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1767241.htm

A prominent medical researcher has called on Australia's governments to stop turning a blind eye to what he says is the manipulation of drug trials and research by pharmaceutical companies.

Professor Ken Bradstock, a haemotologist from Sydney's Westmead Hospital, has told a national conference in Hobart that drug companies have a conflict of interest because their business is health, but their primary responsibility is to their shareholders.

Professor Bradstock says there are documented cases of companies skewing research results to further their commercial interests.

He says sometimes the outcome is that the health system promotes some drugs that are not necessarily the best option.

"There are a variety of ways of achieving that result, ranging from the design of the trial itself, in other words what you compare the new drug to and how you compare it, to the selective reporting of results that come out of a study," Professor Bradstock said.