IUBio

THE FAUCI FILES, 3( 33): NEJM Admits Illegal Falsifications, Fauci-Style

W. Fred Shaw fredshaw at primenet.com
Thu Mar 2 15:00:20 EST 2000


THE FAUCI FILES, 3( 33): NEJM Admits Illegal Falsifications, Fauci-Style

March 2, 2000

While Byzantine politics has consumed the infectious disease
medical establishment under NIH/NIAID Direktor-Dictator
Dr. Anthony "Mussolini" Fauci, it appears that the takeover
of medical institutions by the pharmaceutical industry has
even reached the ivory tower of the esteemed New England
Journal of Medicine.

   "In an extraordinary apology to readers, the prestigious 
    The New England Journal of Medicine admitted violating 
    its financial conflict-of-interest policy 19 times over 
    the past 3 years in its selection of doctors to review 
    new drug treatments."

The New England Journal of Medicine has been added to the
"corporate sponsorship" list after it was busted for 
publishing articles by "researchers" who have been bought
and paid for by various pharmaceutical interests:

   "The internal review was prompted by a news report..."

Dr. Marcia Angell, NEJM editor in chief offers a false
apology in her too-little, too-late response:

    "It was carelessness on our part" 

and, the confession of Murder Inc.:

   "Angell said the stricter policy for review articles is 
    difficult to maintain because "there's so much connection 
    between academia and the private sector now." 

Naturally, one of the "careless" articles in question had to 
do with the HIV Haart Cocktail Drug hoax, which has been
entirely fueled by the phony hype surrounding similar
drug company exploits in the journal arena. This partial
list of falsified journal-article purveyors is a bit too 
familiar on the HIV/AIDS cocktail hype-circuit:

  "... (from) biotech companies to pharmaceutical giants like 
   Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck & Co., Pharmacia & Upjohn, 
   and Wyeth-Ayerst."


Crooked Murdering Bastards!

W. Fred Shaw, Editor
====================

NEJM Apologizes for Conflicts of Interest 
 
Editor in Chief Faults Herself, Staff for 'Carelessness'  
 
By Linda A. Johnson 
 
Associated Press Writer 
 
Feb. 23, 2000 -- In an extraordinary apology to readers, the prestigious
The New England Journal of Medicine admitted violating its financial 
conflict-of-interest policy 19 times over the past 3 years in its 
selection of doctors to review new drug treatments. 
 
The Boston-based weekly journal, considered one of the world's premier 
medical publications, disclosed in Thursday's issue that it let doctors 
who had financial ties to the drug makers write the articles. 
 
"It was carelessness on our part," Dr. Marcia Angell, editor in chief 
since September, said in an interview. 
 
The internal review was prompted by a news report about one such 
violation last fall. It found 18 additional instances since January 
1997. 
 
The violations involve the journal's "Drug Therapy" feature, a series of
reviews of the latest drug treatments for particular illnesses. In each 
case, the journal failed to disqualify authors even though they had 
revealed their financial ties up front, Angell said. 
 
Angell said the journal solicits authors to write the reviews but is 
supposed to bar those that have directly or indirectly received "major 
research support" or payment as a consultant from companies that make 
drugs prominently discussed in those articles. 
 
The "Drug Therapy" series is overseen by an outside editor, Dr. Alistair
J.J. Wood, a pharmacology professor at Vanderbilt University in 
Nashville, Tenn. 
 
Angell said Wood disqualified authors who personally received 
significant research funding from the maker of drugs discussed 
prominently in an article but failed to disqualify authors whose 
institutions received such grants or authors who served as consultants 
to the drug companies. She said some in-house editors knew of the 
practice and overlooked it. 
 
She said she suspects there were violations before 1997, too, but the 
in-house review went back only 3 years. Wood has been editing the series
for about a decade. 
 
In a letter to readers, Angell apologized for the lapse and said steps 
have been taken to ensure against any recurrence. She said no action was
taken against Wood. He and a deputy editor who helps edit the series 
also signed the letter. 
 
The letter listed the 18 newly uncovered articles along with the drug 
makers, which ranged from little-known biotech companies to 
pharmaceutical giants like Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck & Co., Pharmacia 
& Upjohn, and Wyeth-Ayerst. 
 
The journal regularly publishes original, unsolicited articles on 
clinical trials of particular drugs written by academic scientists who 
have received major research funding from a drug manufacturer involved. 
In those cases, the article notes those funding sources at the end. 
 
Angell said the stricter policy for review articles is difficult to 
maintain because "there's so much connection between academia and the 
private sector now." 

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