top pharmaceutical companies are influencing decisions of doctors about how their products are to be prescribed according to a Survey published in Nature.
London October 20, 2005: What has been known perhaps for sometime is now confirmed by a survey published in the journal Nature which suggests that top pharmaceutical companies are influencing decisions of doctors about how their products are to be prescribed.
The journal reveals that that the vicious circle is set by academicians and physicians who make the general rules on which drug to prescribe enjoy heavy financial connections and incentives from the benefiting pharmaceutical industry.Currently it is the norm of publication of a scientific article in a peer reviewed journal to compulsorily declare any financial aid or link. The survey undertaken by Nature looked at the panels that write ‘clinical practice guidelines’ for doctors. The survey found that more than a third of authors declared financial links to the relevant drug companies, with nearly 70 percent of panels affected.
In case of one guideline every member of the panel had been paid by the company responsible for the drug that had been recommended. Some doctors know that the whole thing is a vicious circle and it is difficult to change it. The consumers or the patients are currently unaware of this practice and not much can be done
Recommended guidelines should be free from industry influence. This survey is likely create a hot debate in the medical community over the next few months.
