Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is moving to be more transparent about how much it pays health care professionals, but GP Dr Peter Mansfield has mixed feelings about the announcement.
Pharmaceutical companies
Big pharma’s big reveal: GSK will tell what it pays doctors
The Australian arm of pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline will work towards publicly declaring how much it pays individual doctors and other healthcare professionals.
Diagnosing relations between pharma, journalism and doctors
Last month the CEO of Medicines Australia launched a stinging attack on pharmaceutical industry critics but recent developments tend to undermine his arguments. Melissa Sweet reports.
How doctors are drugged on pharmaceutical company spin
Doctors are advised to avoid pharmaceutical promotion: that was the conclusion following the first review to exhaustively examine all the available literature on the information from drug companies to doctors. Dr Geoffrey Spurling from the University of Queensland reports.
The shot of PR that could undermine trust in public health policy
Should medical and scientific experts turn to spin doctors for advice when concerns are raised about their relationships with industry? A leaked email chain poses some important question for medical professionals, writes Melissa Sweet.
Investigation launched into possible flu vaccine contamination
The Therapeutic Goods Administration will publish its own investigation into CSL flu shot manufacturing irregularities in the wake of an inspection by US authorities on CSL Biotherapies in April.
The business of drugs — the Australian landscape shifts
Australia’s healthcare sector is about to undergo significant change with falling profits and two takeovers, one of which has come from a South African generic drugs group.
GFC PR genius: free drugs for the unemployed
It’s a stroke of marketing genius for big pharma Pfizer: apparently, they’re giving meds away for free to those who have lost jobs and hence health insurance due to the global financial crisis.
Are drug companies hijacking consumer advocacy?
When an industry-funded so-called consumer advocate is a keynote speaker at such a conference, it shows how effectively pharmaceutical companies are hijacking consumer advocacy, writes Melissa Raven.
Media failing to report medical conflicts of interest
Too many medical stories look more like promotion than journalism- and have been driven by the powerful marketing machinery of one of the most profitable industries on the planet, writes Roy Moynihan.
Money: the most potent medical evidence there is
Imagine if much of the evidence that governed treatment decisions by doctors was based on a carefully selected release of studies designed and funded by the companies that are trying to bring their new and very expensive treatments to market…. writes Dr Ian Haines.
GP survey reveals heavy reliance on drug reps
More than 70 per cent of Australian general practitioners regularly see drug company sales representatives, writes Ray Moynihan.
Human rights for pharmaceutical companies?
It is not often we see human rights and pharmaceutical companies in the same sentence except with the word “breach” somewhere in between, so it is fascinating to note that the UN is drafting human rights guidelines for access to medicines.
