Okay, that title is a lie.

In fact, I think you'll find this to be the least shocking article from me that you've ever read.

But it's satisfying to finally have some numbers to help prove what we've known all along.

Here's a scenario for you: You're the head of a multi-billion dollar drug company. Your R&D team has been working on some new blockbuster drug. You've been sinking tons of money into this one, and it's like nothing else on the market. When it comes time to test it, you want to make sure the results show it works. But how can you do that?

Easy--fund the study yourself.

See where I'm going here? Like I said, this one isn't so shocking...

Earlier this month, a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine demonstrated the power of Big Pharma-funded studies.

Researchers looked at 546 drug trials and found that industry-funded trials yield positive results 85% of the time. Government-funded trials are split 50/50 positive to negative, and those that are funded by nonprofit or non-federal organizations show positive results 72% of the time. Of course, being a little cynical, the 72% makes me wonder about the nature of some of those nonprofits and their ties to Big Pharma, but I digress...

The point...or the question, rather...is this: Whenever we read about these wonderful drug trials, showing amazing results that get the miracle drug rushed to the market, can we really trust the results?

I'm sure many of you agree with me when I say, "No way." Especially when, months or years down the road, we start hearing horror stories from people who have been taking that miracle drug.

Is it right that drug companies can cherry-pick the studies they fund? Of course they're only going to throw money at trials they think will be successful. And when they're not successful, they just hold on to them -- the recent study showed that only 32% of industry-funded research makes it to publication within two years of completion.

When weighing the results of a medical study it's important to consider who supplied money to conduct the research. According to an analysis of drug trials published Monday, studies were much more likely to be positive -- that is, showing the drug worked -- in trials that were funded by the pharmaceutical industry.

So, what do we do? Well, first of all, any time you see some blazing headline celebrating the wondrous effects of some new drug, take it with a big grain of salt.

And keep an eye on http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. It's a web-based registry of clinical trials that's been around for over ten years. There, you can find information that provides details on research and helps determine the quality of clinical trials.

Printer-friendly version