Greedy Trial Lawyer
Seeding Trials By Drug Industry Cause Situational Blindness
Category: Gaming The System
A clever but dishonest marketing strategy used by the drug industry, called seeding trials, was under discussion at Gooznews.com this week.
Why Does Medicare Subsidize Industry Seeding Trials?
One of the worst-kept secrets in medical research is that much of what passes for cutting edge knowledge is actually thinly-veiled advertising by the drug industry for drugs that have already been FDA-approved. Example: A company has an anti-inflammatory pain pill that has been approved for arthritis pain; they now want to test it on dental patients with tooth aches. Such studies add almost nothing to medical science, yet they routinely appear in the medical literature, especially in the less prestigious journals that cater to specialists.These trials are sometimes referred to as seeding trials because their real aim is to encourage the physicians who enroll patients in the trial (at a nice fee per patient, of course) to continue prescribing it for them and other patients once the trial is over. Another major benefit for the drug firm is that after the study appears in a specialty journal, the sponsor can buy thousands of reprints for its salesmen to distribute to the offices of physicians in that specialty, even though it hasn't been approved for the condition they're actually treating. While the law prohibits drug industry salesmen from promoting the off-label use of drugs, they are allowed to drop off published literature that accomplishes the same thing.
It now appears that industry has gotten Medicare involved in the game. Yesterday, I attended an all-day hearing at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) where an advisory committee debated whether Medicare should continue reimbursing the routine costs of caring for seniors who are enrolled in clinical trials. At the end of the day, they said yes with a few limitations that may not stop the abuses.
Do you think greedy trial lawyers could conduct "studies" of the benefits of legal representation for injured victims and then drop the results off at hospital bedsides? Probably not - the true purpose would be too transparent. How blind must the medical profession be to allow the absurdity of seeding trials to continue! The answer lies in the fees paid by Big Pharma. Payoffs have been known to cause situational blindness, a common malady among doctors.
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Comments
Just out of curiosity, if the drug companies didn't do these trials and someone claimed injury that might have been predicted had the trial been done, you'd give the company a pass, right? You wouldn't file suit?
Thought not. Quit whining about a problem you intentionally created.
Posted by: Matthew at December 19, 2006 05:57 PM