Usa Forum - Psychiatric drugs fare favorably when companies pay for studies

Roman Bystrianyk

6/23/2006 4:53:00 PM

Marilyn Elias, "Psychiatric drugs fare favorably when companies pay for
studies", USA Today, May 24, 2006,
Link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-05-24-drug-studies_x.htm?P...

Drug companies fund a growing number of the studies in leading
psychiatric journals, and drugs fare much better in these
company-funded studies than in trials done independently or by
competitors, researchers reported Wednesday.

About 57% of published studies were paid for by drug companies in 2002,
compared with 25% in 1992, says psychiatrist Igor Galynker of Beth
Israel Medical Center in New York City.

His team looked at clinical research in four influential journals:
American Journal of Psychiatry, Archives of General Psychiatry, Journal
of Clinical Psychiatry and Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

In the report, released at the American Psychiatric Association meeting
in Toronto, reviewers did not know who paid for the studies they
evaluated, Galynker says. There were favorable outcomes for a
medication in about:

· Eight out of 10 studies paid for by the company that makes the
drug.

· Five out of 10 studies done with no industry support.

· Three out of 10 studies done by competitors of the firm making the
drug.

The findings don't prove the companies are knowingly biasing studies,
says co-author Robert Kelly Jr., also with Beth Israel. The report
didn't look at the evidence for bias in design of the studies.

As drug companies increasingly fund research that yields favorable
outcomes for their drugs, there may be a built-in bias because journals
are reluctant to publish studies with negative or inconclusive
findings, Galynker says.

In October 2004, the pharmaceutical industry set up a database to allow
publication of all studies, positive and negative, says Alan Goldhammer
of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, trade
group for the drug companies. "We want to improve transparency," he
says.

Because drug studies are very expensive, pharmaceutical companies fund
those most likely to have a positive outcome, Goldhammer says. The
firms weed out drugs that don't work and consult with the Food and Drug
Administration to design trials that will pass muster with the FDA.
"We're constantly trying to develop new drugs to treat mental illness,"
he says.

Posting a negative study on the database is voluntary. "And common
sense dictates that the worse the drug does, the less likely you are to
volunteer to beat yourself up publicly by sharing that," says Sidney
Wolfe of Public Citizen, the Washington-based consumer advocacy group.

"We're seeing a huge tilting in the education of psychiatrists toward
the industry point of view on psychiatric drugs," Wolfe says. "And that
point of view is, 'Prescribe my drug, it's better.' "

The government should be funding more of this research because public
programs, such as Medicare, pay so much for psychiatric drugs, Wolfe
says.

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Psychiatric drugs fare favorably when companies pay for studies

Roman Bystrianyk

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