October 2017 April 2015 | Page 10

Te Puawai
documentation, and the failure of the
regulatory system. Crucially, it is also an
illustration of how science, at its best, is built
on transparency and open-ness to criticism,
because the saga of the Cochrane Tamiflu
review began with a simple online comment.”
(12)
Dr Jordan also emphasised the need for all
clinical trials results to be published to ensure
that doctors have full information about the
medicines they prescribe to their patients. She
referred to the AllTrials campaign which is
dedicated to making it mandatory to publish
the results of all trials. Currently the results of
half of all clinical trials are hidden. Even the
FDA doesn’t get all the data from the clinical
trials of all the drugs and devices they
approve for use. (13)
There were also excellent presentations from
Professor Chris Bullen on clinical trials and
industry, and Dr Sarah Hetrick on the 2014
Cochrane antidepressant review, “Selective
serotinon reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for
depressive dis-orders in children and
adolescents” that she was the lead author of.
(14)
Professor Shaun Hendy’s presentation, “Can
we trust our scientists?” focused on the role of
scientists in today’s world. He used two
events that received worldwide media
attention – the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster in
Japan and the Fonterra botulism scare in New
Zealand – to illustrate the role of science in
both disasters. Industry funding under-mines
the trust that the general public has in
scientists and limits their ability to talk to the
public. There is a real need for independentlyfunded scientists who do not have conflict of
interests to front the media when disasters
occur.
The afternoon symposium finished with a
panel of five blokes who were interviewed by
the Dominion Post’s Nikki Macdonald. Among

© Te Puawai

them was the Ministry of Health’s Dr Stewart
Jessamine, who unfortunately never fails to
sound like an apologist for the pharmaceutical
industry.
The AWHC wishes to acknowledge that this
informative and challenging symposium would
not have eventuated without the determination
and commitment of Professor Cindy Farquhar.
Thank you Cindy!
Most of the presenters’ slides from the
symposium are now available at:
http://nz.cochrane.org/symposium

References
1. www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi
%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0040184
2. http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3
Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.10015
00
3. http://dida.library.ucsf.edu/
4. www.healthnewsreview.org/toolkit/indepen
dent-experts/
5. http://projects.propublica.org/graphics/bigp
harma
6. https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/
7. http://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/
8. https://www.pharmashine.com/
9. http://www.amsascorecard.org/executivesummary
10. http://www.amsa.org/AMSA/Homepage/Ta
keAction/JustMedicine.aspx
11. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1
4651858.CD008965.pub4/abstract;jsessio
nid=D0952B85723A29FF11B3087DB5F7
1938.f03t02
12. http://www.theguardian.com/business/201
4/apr/10/tamiflu-saga-drug-trials-bigpharma
13. http://www.alltrials.net/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1
4651858.CD004851.pub3/abstract

College of Nurses Aotearoa (NZ) Inc
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