Yesterday saw the launch of badguidelines.org, a campaign led by doctors and medical students. This campaign is in response to a document Guidance on Collaboration between Healthcare Professionals and the Pharmaceutical Industry.
Most major healthcare organisations in Britain have signed this misleading set of guidelines. This document contains a series of factually incorrect statements on important issues that have a significant impact on patient care, including medical education, and the availability of withheld data from clinical trials. The groups who have signed this misleading document include: the British Medical Association, several Royal Colleges and the Department of Health.
It claims that ‘Information about industry-sponsored trials is publicly available’. This is untrue. The best current estimate is that data from half of all the clinical trials that have been completed have never been published. There is an active campaign on this problem at alltrials.net, with support from groups including the BMJ and the Medical Research Council, with a Commons Select Committee inquiry into the issue recently announced.
The document also claims that drugs company sales representatives ‘can be a useful resource for healthcare professionals’. This, again, is a misleading statement. The best available evidence from 58 studies summarised in a recent academic review shows that overall, doctors who see drug company sales representatives are worse prescribers, prescribing more and with higher prescribing costs. No research has ever shown that “drug reps” improve prescribing.
In an article published on the Lancet website yesterday morning, Richard Horton withdrew the Lancet’s support for the document, stating ‘The statements made in the “guidance” certainly do not match the latest evidence about the behaviour of pharmaceutical companies today’. Read the article here.
We call on the organisations that have endorsed these guidelines to heed the evidence and reconsider their position.
If you're a member or know any members of the BMA, RCPsych, RCP, RCPEdinburgh, RCGP, RCN or Royal Pharmaceutical Society, contact us badguidelines@gmail.com or at our website.
Notes:
1. The Bad Guidelines Campaign is a joint initiative by Pharmaware, Healthy Skepticism UK, Conflict Free Conferences, Dr Ben Goldacre and Medact. More details can be found at www.badguidelines.org.
Most major healthcare organisations in Britain have signed this misleading set of guidelines. This document contains a series of factually incorrect statements on important issues that have a significant impact on patient care, including medical education, and the availability of withheld data from clinical trials. The groups who have signed this misleading document include: the British Medical Association, several Royal Colleges and the Department of Health.
It claims that ‘Information about industry-sponsored trials is publicly available’. This is untrue. The best current estimate is that data from half of all the clinical trials that have been completed have never been published. There is an active campaign on this problem at alltrials.net, with support from groups including the BMJ and the Medical Research Council, with a Commons Select Committee inquiry into the issue recently announced.
The document also claims that drugs company sales representatives ‘can be a useful resource for healthcare professionals’. This, again, is a misleading statement. The best available evidence from 58 studies summarised in a recent academic review shows that overall, doctors who see drug company sales representatives are worse prescribers, prescribing more and with higher prescribing costs. No research has ever shown that “drug reps” improve prescribing.
In an article published on the Lancet website yesterday morning, Richard Horton withdrew the Lancet’s support for the document, stating ‘The statements made in the “guidance” certainly do not match the latest evidence about the behaviour of pharmaceutical companies today’. Read the article here.
We call on the organisations that have endorsed these guidelines to heed the evidence and reconsider their position.
If you're a member or know any members of the BMA, RCPsych, RCP, RCPEdinburgh, RCGP, RCN or Royal Pharmaceutical Society, contact us badguidelines@gmail.com or at our website.
Notes:
1. The Bad Guidelines Campaign is a joint initiative by Pharmaware, Healthy Skepticism UK, Conflict Free Conferences, Dr Ben Goldacre and Medact. More details can be found at www.badguidelines.org.
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