As research has moved away from the realm of universities and into the private sector, more physicians are being paid by drug companies to enroll and monitor patients during clinical trials. Private corporations have been the largest sponsors of pharmaceutical research in both Canada and the United Sates in the last twenty years.

Research Ethics Boards (REB’s) exist to protect the safety of research subjects. However, they provide guidelines only, and often guidelines are ambiguous. REB’s may be private entities, and thus may be vulnerable to pressure. Read more →

While it seems that sponsors of clinical trials usually end up with results that clearly favor their medicine, there are rare exceptions. Merck and Schering-Plough proved that with their disappointing ENHANCE Trial which many have heard about through the media.

Vytorin is a combination pill for high cholesterol and contains Merck’s Zocor, which is now generic, and Schering’s Zetia, which works differently than Zocor — one of many statin drugs. Read more →

If I were to rate the corruptive tactics performed by big pharmaceutical companies, the intentional corruption of implementing fabricated and unreliable results of clinical trials would be at the top of the list. Pharmaceutical companies manipulate the trials they sponsor because of their power to control others involved in the process largely absent of regulation. This is a matter of requiring authenticity and, more importantly, assuring the safety of the public health. Read more →

Antipsychotic drug development may be off course. Since its accidental discovery during 1951 (Shen 1999), 15 to 40 drugs have been used to treat antipsychotic symptoms. Further developement in drug treatment was on hold until the introduction of Clozapine treatment in the United States in 1990. Discontinuation of antipsychotic medications is common because they don’t work in all patients and because of adverse effects, including metabolic side effects, weight gain and involuntary movements (Tandon 2006). Read more →