Drug company-sponsored studies less critical than independent studies
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CHICAGO (AP) - Studies on the cost-effectiveness of drugs are far more likely to report favorable findings if they are sponsored by the drug companies themselves rather than independent groups, researchers found.
Their study - funded by a pharmaceutical company - appears to confirm long-held suspicions that doctors are less critical about a drug's safety and effectiveness when they have financial ties to the manufacturer.
"It is possible that these factors may result in some unconscious bias'' in interpreting a study's findings, the researchers said.
Last year, the conflict-of-interest issue made headlines when a report found that the vast majority of doctors who defended the safety of calcium channel blockers had a financial relationship with manufacturers of the blood pressure pills.
In the current study, published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers looked at 44 studies on the cost-effectiveness of cancer drugs. Twenty of the studies were funded by pharmaceutical companies and 24 by nonprofit organizations.
Those sponsored by nonprofit groups reached unfavorable conclusions 38 percent of the time, compared with just 5 percent for studies sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. Also, researchers in company-backed studies were slightly more likely to overstate the cost-effectiveness.
Some researchers receive funding directly from pharmaceutical companies. Some get funding in the form of honoraria or travel expenses. Some hold stock in drug companies and profit directly from increased drug sales.
Dr. Charles Bennett, the lead author and a professor at Northwestern Medical School, said that in addition to the possibility of unconscious bias, there could be other explanations for the findings.
For example, pharmaceutical companies are given early looks at studies. That enables them to abandon studies that appear to be unfavorable and focus on those they think are going to be positive, Bennett said.
Source: Fox News, Click here for entire article
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