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Pharmaceutical Company Control of the Information Environment Downloadable slide show
Persuading Prescribers Wilson Lectureship given by Dr. Fugh-Berman in Albuquerque on September 29, 2006.
New Drugs from Old: Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, Vol 44 No. 10 Oct 2006 presented at the Medical Journal Club, Morriston Hospital by Scott Pegler, Pharmacist at the National Health Service (UK) on November 20, 2006.
Separating the Wheat From the Chaff: Obtaining Useful Information from Pharmaceutical Representatives David C. Slawson and Allen F. Shaughnessy. From the University of Virginia and Tufts University Two-Day Information Mastery Course, module 12. University of Virginia Health System, Department of Family Medicine
No Drug Reps Certificate (pdf)
Fast Facts on Generic Drugs Information for patients.
Help Your Doctor Break the Sample Habit
Unbiased Resources Drugs and other therapies.
Abramson, John. Overdo$ed America: the broken promise of American medicine. New York, NY. Harper Collins, 2004.
Angell, Marcia. The truth about the drug companies: how they deceive us and what to do about it. New York, NY. Random House, 2004.
Avorn, Jerry. Powerful medicines: the benefits, risks, and costs of prescription drugs. New York, NY. Knopf, 2004.
Brody, Howard. Hooked: ethics, the medical profession, and the pharmaceutical industry. New York, NY. Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007.
Brownlee, Shannon. Overtreated: why too much medicine is making us sicker and poorer. New York, NY. Bloomsbury, 2007.
Critser, Greg. Generation Rx: how prescription drugs are altering American lives, minds, and bodies. Mariner Books, 2007.
Elliott, Carl. Better than well: American medicine meets the American dream. New York, NY. W.W. Norton, 2003.
Fox, Stephen R. The mirror makers: a history of American advertising and its creators. New York, NY. Morrow, 1984.
Goozner, Merrill. The $800 million pill: the truth behind the cost of new drugs. Berkeley, CA. University of California Press, 2004.
Greene, Jeremy A. Prescribing by numbers: drugs and the definition of disease. Baltimore, MD. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Healy, David. The antidepressant era. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press, 1997.
Healy, David. Let them eat Prozac: the unhealthy relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and depression. New York, NY. New York University Press, 2004.
Kassirer, Jerome P. On the take: how America's complicity with big business can endanger your health. New York, NY. Oxford University Press, 2005.
Kilbourne, Jean. Can't buy my love: how advertising changes the way we think and feel. New York, NY. Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Kilbourne, Jean. Deadly persuasion: why women and girls must fight the addictive power of advertising. New York, NY. Free Press, 1999.
Moynihan, Ray. Selling sickness: how the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies are turning us all into patients. New York, NY. Nation Books, 2005.
Mundy, Alicia. Dispensing with the truth: the victims, the drug companies, and the dramatic story behind the battle over Fen-Phen. New York, NY. St. Martin's Press, 2001.
Payer, Lynn. Medicine and culture: varieties of treatment in the United States, England, West Germany, and France. New York, NY. Henry Holt and Company, 1996.
Reidy, Jamie. Hard sell: the evolution of a Viagra salesman. Kansas City, MO. Andrews McMeel, 2005.
Washburn, Jennifer. University, Inc.: the corporate corruption of American higher education. New York, NY. Basic Books, 2005.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Free subscription to the electronic version of this CDC report
FDA MEDWATCH Contains warning letters about drugs and instructions on how to report an adverse event. Join the e-mail list.
FDA Drug Safety Newsletter (subscribe) Provides postmarketing information to healthcare professionals on new drug safety information and adverse events.
Therapeutics Letter Independent publication on rational drug therapy published by the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia.
Australian Prescriber Independent review of drugs and therapeutics published by the National Prescribing Service.
MeReC Rapid Review (free subscription) Appraises new findings in the context of the current evidence base and healthcare practice. Recent reports:
World Health Organization Essential Drugs Monitor Information on national drug policies, current pharmaceutical issues, and rational drug use.
WHO Pharmaceuticals Newsletter Information on the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products. For a free subscription, email listserv@who.int with the following message text: "subscribe WHO-PHN."
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Integrity in Science Project A conflict-of-interest database that includes individuals and groups. A CSPI listserve provides weekly information about conflicts of interest in science. Subscribe to the CSPI listserve.Choudhry NK, Stelfox HT, Detsky AS. Relationships between authors of clinical practice guidelines and the pharmaceutical industry. JAMA 2002;287:612-7.
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Yank V, Rennie D, Bero LA. Financial ties and concordance between results and conclusions in meta-analyses: retrospective cohort study. BMJ 2007;335:1202-5.
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Dominick L. Frosch DL, Krueger PM, Hornik RC, Cronholm PF, Barg FK. Creating demand for prescription drugs: a content analysis of television direct-to-consumer advertising. Ann Fam Med 2007;5(1):6-13.
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Carroll AE, Vreeman RC, Buddenbaum J, Inui TS. To what extent do educational interventions impact medical trainees' attitudes and behaviors regarding industry-trainee and industry-physician relationships? Pediatrics 2007;120:e1528-35.
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Segovis CM, Mueller PS, Rethlefsen ML, et al. If you feed them, they will come: a prospective study of the effects of complimentary food on attendance and physician attitudes at medical grand rounds at an academic medical center. BMC Med Educ 2007;7:22.
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Sierles FS, Brodkey AC, Cleary LM, et al. Medical students' exposure to and attitudes about drug company interactions: a national survey. JAMA 2005;294:1034-42.
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Greene JA. Pharmaceutical marketing research and the prescribing physician. Ann Intern Med 2007;146:742-8.
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Kesselheim AS, Avorn J. The role of litigation in defining drug risks. JAMA 2007 Jan 17;297(3):308-311.
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Krumholz HM, Ross JS, Presler AH, Egilman, DS. What have we learnt from Vioxx? BMJ 2007 Jan;334(7585):120-123.
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Moore TJ, Cohen MR, Furberg CD. Serious adverse drug events reported to the Food and Drug Administration, 1998-2005. Arch Intern Med 2007;167:1752-9.
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Ashar BH, Miller RG, Getz KJ, Powe NR. Prevalence and determinants of physician participation in conducting pharmaceutical-sponsored clinical trials and lectures. J Gen Intern Med 2004;19:1140-5.
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Sismondo S. How pharmaceutical industry funding affects trial outcomes: Causal structures and responses. Soc Sci Med 2008;66:1909-14.
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Sismondo S. Pharmaceutical company funding and its consequences: A qualitative systematic review. Contemp Clin Trials 2008;29:109-13.
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Boltri JM, Gordon ER, Vogel RL. Effect of antihypertensive samples on physician prescribing patterns. Fam Med 2002;34:729-31.
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Groves KEM, Sketris I, Tett SE. Prescription drug samples--does this marketing strategy counteract policies for quality use of medicines? J Clin Pharm Ther 2003;28:259-71.
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Reports (return to section menu)
Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs A public information project administered by Consumers Union.
Report of the AAMC Task Force on Industry Funding of Medical Education to the AAMC Executive Council
COI in medical education.
American Medical Student Association (AMSA) PharmFree Scorecard 2008 Conflict of interest policies at academic medical centers.
Summary of Pharmaceutical Marketing Expenditures in the District of Columbia, Calendar Year 2006
AHRQ Compendia for Coverage of Off-Label Uses of Drugs and Biologics in an Anticancer Chemotherapeutic Regimen A review of drug compendia.
Lifting the Veil of Secrecy: Corporate Support for Health and Environmental Professional Associations, Charities, and Industry Front Groups. A 2003 report from Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)
Drug promotion: what we know, what we have yet to learn: Reviews of materials in the WHO/HAI database on drug promotion EDM Research Series no. 32 (102 pages)More at WHO site Selection and Rational Use of Medicines. Norris P, Herxheimer A, Lexchin J, Mansfield P. World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI), 2004.
(Free paper copy available on request from WHO: e-mail edmdoccentre@who.int)
Educational Initiatives For Medical and Pharmacy Students About Drug Promotion: an International Cross-sectional Survey (pdf 3.75 MB) Mintzes B. World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI), 2005. Free paper copy also available on request from WHO: e-mail edmdoccentre@who.int
Blurring the Boundaries. Mintzes B. Health Action International (HAI).
Branding the Cure. Consumers International.
Turning Medicine Into Snake Oil: How Pharmaceutical Marketers Put Patients At Risk. New Jersey Public Interest Research Group Law and Policy Center. May 2006.
Getting Doctors to Say Yes to Drugs: The Cost and Quality Impact of Drug Company Marketing to Physicians. Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Millenson, ML. Accessed September 2, 2006.
Profiting from Pain: Where Prescription Dollars Go. July 2002. Families USA Publication 02-105. More at Families USA Prescription Drug Publications.
Big Pharma Behaving Badly: A Survey of Selected Class Action Lawsuits Against Drug Companies, Fourth Edition. January 2005. Prepared for Families USA by Patrick Cafferty, Miller Faucher, and Cafferty, LLP. More at Families USA Prescription Drug Publications.
CSE’s White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications. Editorial Policy Committee (2005-2006), Council of Science Editors (CSE). 2006.
Kaiser Family Foundation National Survey of Physicians Part II: Doctors and Prescription Drugs, March 2002. Additional Findings were released in 2006.
Kaiser Family Foundation Prescription Drug Trends Fact Sheet.
US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Guide to Clinical Practice for 2006. Free in pdf, print, or downloadable PDA format.
New drug treatment reports from the U.K. National Prescribing Center (part of the National Health Service)
WHO Drug Promotion A World Health Organization database that contains more than 2000 abstracts from 1970-2002.
Conflict-of-Interest Database Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Integrity in Science database includes conflict of interest information on individuals and organizations.
No Free Lunch Provider Database Directory of health care providers who refuse pharma gifts and info.
Minnesota Board of Pharmacy Payments to Practitioners Documents
Drug Industry Document Archive (DIDA) Searchable database of internal industry documents and other papers concerning the marketing of Neurontin (gabapentin); also documents on the marketing of Vioxx (rofecoxib) from public records.
The Centers for Reviews Dissemination Primarily funded by the National Health Service (U.K.), the CDRD includes the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) which contains abstracts of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Therapeutics Initiative “provides physicians and pharmacists with up to date, evidence based, practical information on rational drug therapy” and publishes the Therapeutic Letter, a freely available, independent publication on rational drug therapy.
RxFacts Independent Drug Information Service Objective drug information. Clinical topics include:
Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) Evidence reports and research reviews on various diseases and conditions.
Office of Medical Applications of Research (OMAR), National Institutes of Health (NIH) lists NIH State-of-the-Science Consensus Statements.
National Cancer Institute (NCI) Information on cancer treatments for health care professionals and consumers.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER)
Specific drugs at the FDA
Guidances the FDA’s current thinking on various topics
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Independent organization in the U.K. that provides national guidance on the promotion of good health and the prevention and treatment of ill health.
Oxford Center for Evidence-Based Medicine. Lots of learning and teaching tools, including glossaries of terms and slideshows on Teaching Evidence Based Health Care; Graphical Appraisal Tool for Epidemiology; Implementing Evidence Based Practices; Statistics in Homeopathic Doses and Teaching about Diagnosis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides statistics, publications, and additional information on disease conditions. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) (free subscription)
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) contains reports and data on national and local health statistics.
World Health Organization (WHO) the United Nations health agency has extensive publications and resources on international health, specific diseases, and drug information.
James Lind Library Great information on evidence-based medicine; for example, see fair tests of therapies. Also contains historical documents.
National Electronic Library for Health (NeLH) provides access to MeReC, Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, Bandolier, and other sites. Some resources (Cochrane reviews) are available only in the U.K.
The Cochrane Collaboration Systematic reviews of hundreds of medical therapies. Full reviews require subscription, but abstracts are free.
The Centers for Reviews Dissemination Primarily funded by the National Health Service (U.K.), the CDRD includes the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) which contains abstracts of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
peRx (Prescribing Evidence-based Therapies) offers a documentary, information, and educational modules on the drug approval process, marketing strategies, ethical dimensions, and strategies to improve prescribing.National Physicians Alliance Founded by former leaders of AMSA, the NPA seeks "to restore physicians' primary emphasis on the core values of our profession: service, integrity, and advocacy...and to ensure equitable, affordable, high quality health care for all people."
No Free Lunch “Just say no to drug reps.” Physicians and medical students who “believe that pharmaceutical promotion should not guide clinical practice.” Information, news, resources, and essays; NFL also invented the “Pen Amnesty” program.
Healthy Skepticism An international non-profit organization that “aims to improve health by reducing harm from misleading drug promotion.” The site contains a web library of over 7300 items. Adwatch analyzes selected drug ads.
Health Care Renewal Summaries, commentary and links to news stories about integrity in science and medicine, drug promotion, institutional and corporate scandals.
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Integrity in Science Project A conflict-of-interest database that includes individuals and groups. A CSPI listserve provides weekly information about conflicts of interest in science. Subscribe to the CSPI listserve.
American Medical Student Association (AMSA) and the AMSA Pharm-Free campaign Information on “counterdetailing” for medical students.
Includes sources of independent information on drugs, slideshows, and downloadable stickers used to cover up drug company logos.
Demanding Evidence, Foregoing Industry Bias (De-Fib) New site from University of Rochester medical students.
Health Action International: An international group that “works to increase access and improve the rational use of essential medicines.”
Center for Public Integrity produces investigative reports on issues of public concern. The project Pushing Prescriptions explores the political influence of the pharmaceutical industry.
Unbiased Resources Drugs and other therapies.
Fast Facts on Generic Drugs Information for patients.
Drug Ad Bingo An exercise for physicians-in-training on how to recognize sales techniques in pharmaceutical ads.
An Introduction to Information Mastery (powerpoint) Mark H. Ebell, Department of Family Practice, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University. A course on Information Mastery, Evidence-Based Medicine, and critical appraisal of the medical literature.
Selected documents on the marketing of Vioxx, for a Congressional hearing held on May 05, 2005 by the Committee on Government Reform, Minority Office, on The roles of the FDA and pharmaceutical companies in ensuring the safety of approved drugs, like Vioxx
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Guidance for Industry on Industry-Supported Scientific and Educational Activities. Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 232 / Wednesday, December 3, 1997 / Notices/64093. Additional Guidances from CDER.
Office of the Inspector General has the OIG Compliance Program Guidance for Pharmaceutical Manufacturers. Federal Register / Vol. 68, No. 86 / Monday, May 5, 2003 / Notices / 23731.
