Drug Companies Don’t Tell All – That’s A Problem

We all just assume that when a prescription drug comes to us from the pharmacy, adequate testing and full disclosure has been made. Testing, yes; full disclosure, not so much. In a recent Wall Street Journal article the author writes, "findings from many clinical studies assessing prescription drugs never see light of day," which "skews the basic scientific records that every patient, physician and researcher needs to judge whether treatments cause more harm than good." Deborah Zarin, director of the National Library of Medicine‘s online clinical trials registry said,

There is data that you are not seeing …. There is a huge problem here if an unknown amount of the information is censored and you don’t even know it is censored.

Since 2004, prescription drug claims over deceptive marketing, failure to report dangerous side effects and secret payments to medical researchers have shed light on lapses between the number of clinical trials conducted compared to the number published. New mandatory reporting requirements are almost in place, with stiff monetary consequences aimed at the drug industry if it continues with it’s deceptive behavior. Will it make a difference, stay tuned.