A, Wills

Daily Mail 29.8.23  “THE LEGAL LOOPHOLE THAT MEANS DOCTORS DON’T HAVE TO DECLARE IF ‘INDEPENDENT’ RESEARCH IS FUNDED BY A DRUGS GIANT”

By John Naish.

When you take a powerful medicine or have a device implanted you want to be sure its safety & effectiveness are backed by independent studies.  That is, free from medical companies’ efforts to over-sell the benefits, or cover up that their medical products may be harmful.  When a study is funded by drug co’s it can be skewed.  Research found  doctors who received a free meal from a drug co. were more likely to prescribe more of the company’s drugs.  In USA the “Physician Payments Sunshine Act” requires all medical co’s to disclose payments made to researchers & health professionals, so they can be scrutinised by independent experts.  But in UK no such law exists.   Instead, it’s at the discretion of the researcher or co. to disclose any fees, sponsorship, expenses or other financial backing.  Evidence shows they often keep this secret.  UK governments repeatedly promise that ‘openness legislation’ would be put in place, following scandals such as vaginal mesh implants – which left 10s of 1,000s of women damaged when the plastic mesh broke up into shards which damaged their bladder & other organs.  Susan Bewley, emeritus professor of obstetrics & women’s health at King’s College London, & a trustee of “HealthSense” says “Patients need to know their treatment is based on best evidence & not on who is paying their doctor.”  

Ann