Blog updates for July 2012

July 29. We added to Bradford Hill Criteria of Causation: A presentation on conflict of interest in the pharmaceutical industry (funded by a grant from the Oregon state Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Program which is funded by the multi-state settlement of consumer fraud claims regarding the marketing of the prescription drug Neurontin) can be found [here]. Among the many points it brings out are:

• Spingarn et al [PMID: 8540971], conducted a retrospective cohort study of hospital resdients who attended an industry sponsored grand rounds and their views related to treatment options for Lyme Disease. 3 months after, residents who attended were more likely to choose the manufacturer’s product and less likely to select scientifically preferred antibiotic over sponsored product.
• Bekelman et al [PMID: 12533125] performed a meta analysis which found that industry sponsored studies were 3.6x more likely to favor industry.
• Nieto et al [PMID: 17954797] compared the Adverse effects of inhaled corticosteroids in funded and nonfunded studies and found that industry sponsored studies were more likely to employ design features that were less likely to detect differences in adverse effects and that industry funded trials were 4x more likely to conclude drug is safe given statistically significant differences in adverse effects.

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July 17. In NIH Funded Research to be Open Access: The UK appears to be following the lead of the US mandating open access to all publicly funded research starting April 2013. See [Nature Blog].