arstechnica.com/science/201...
"Of the nearly $30 billion that health companies now spend on medical marketing each year, around 68 percent (or about $20 billion) goes to persuading doctors and other medical professionals—not consumers—of the benefits of prescription drugs. That’s according to an in-depth analysis published in JAMA this week. The study broke down exactly how health companies convinced us to spend enormous sums on our care between 1997 and 2016. In that time, health companies went from spending $17.7 billion to $29.9 billion on medical marketing. Meanwhile, US healthcare spending hit $3.3 trillion, or 17.8 percent of the GDP, in 2016....
In the 1990s, while drug representatives misled medical professionals about the abuse potential of Oxycontin and promoted off-label use of the powerful pain-killer, the drug’s maker, Purdue Pharma, launched aggressive awareness campaigns and pain-education programs about opioid treatments for chronic, noncancer pain. Between 2000 and 2015, opioid prescriptions and overdose deaths quadrupled. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that about 46 people die each day from prescription opioid overdoses."
jamanetwork.com/journals/ja...
" Since 1997, 103 financial settlements between drug companies and federal and state governments resulted in more than $11 billion in fines for off-label or deceptive marketing practices. "
"Key opinion leaders feature prominently in professional marketing as consultants and speakers across a drug’s lifecycle, developing commercialization strategies and serving as product champions. These opinion leaders exert influence through research publications, presentations, media presence, and contributions to editorial boards, guideline committees, and professional societies. Payments to key opinion leaders, a function of reputation and specialty, reportedly account for approximately one-third of company marketing budgets."
Many medical journal studies are actually big Pharma propaganda. The authors are supposed to disclose Pharma sponsorship, however, oftentimes that sponsorship is disguised by funneling the funds through some kind of nonprofit. Or, the author simply fails to disclose.
My prior posts on this subject:
When Good Doctors Prescribe Bad Medicine:
How Big Pharma pollutes the scientific record and propagandizes doctors.
Bisphosphonates (Fosamax, etc.) increase fracture risk and should not be on the market.
Statins are effective but dangerous.
Vitamins D and K and a couple of minerals improve bone strength, reduce fracture risk and prevent hardening of the arteries. In so doing they result in better outcomes than both bisphosphonates and statins.
Other hazardous meds and how you can protect yourself.
Junk Science, Bad Reporting Propagate Unhealthy Misinformation Regarding Supplements
A recent survey of the literature entitled Supplemental Vitamins And Minerals For CVD Prevention And Treatment alleges supplements are not useful for the prevention of CVD. It purports to be a comprehensive survey of the impact of supplements on cardiovascular disease, but it is not. It ignores vitamin K, which, along with vitamin D, are by far the most important supplements for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Most importantly it defames vitamin D.
How To Create An Invalid Review Of Studies
One way to create an invalid review of studies is to mischaracterize what a key study says. The detail of how that was done.
Nuplazid - Questionable Effectiveness
healthunlocked.com/parkinso...
How did a drug of questionable effectiveness and associated with a high rate of death get approved?
You might want to consider PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic field therapy) for PD
An injustice by pharmaceutical and medical community...
Natural molecules that stimulate dopamine production may help reverse Parkinson's disease
New Research Sheds Light on Parkinson’s
