HEALTH
Tip #2: D
isease-Related Organizations Often
Have Financial Ties, too.
When patients are diagnosed with cancer, oncologists are quick to point them to the American Cancer Society website for information on the best
treatments.
Not so fast!
If you check the ACS’s site, you’ll see that it has received contributions of over $250,000 each from
several pharmaceutical companies, including Abbott Labs, AbbVee, Pfizer, Merck, and Eli Lilly. And
other “disease organizations” your doctor recommends may also have similar financial ties. For
instance, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
lists as its corporate partners Allergan, Genzyme,
Novartis, and Biogen Idec, to name a few. Ditto the
American Diabetes Association, whose corporate
sponsors include a stunning number of pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Merck, Sanofi, and
Pfizer.
With pharmaceutical contributors like these, there
is a good chance the information on these websites
might be influenced by the organizations’ financial
ties.
Tip #3: Clinical Trials Have Financial Ties, too.
Add to this the fact that a huge percentage (some
estimates range up to 90%) of Phase 3 clinical trials—the ones doctors rely on when prescribing
medications—are financed by the pharmaceutical
companies that manufacture the drugs they plan
to sell and profit from. There is reason to question
the results of these trials. See “Big Pharma’s Role
in Clinical Trials.”
Tip #4: L
earn About Doctors’ Financial Ties.
If you are curious as to whether a doctor you are
planning to consult has questionable ties to pharmaceutical or medical device companies, you’ll
want to visit one of my favorite websites, “Dollars
for Docs”