March 15, 2010

As universities tighten ethics policies, drug firms turn to private physicians to promote products

By Kelley Luckstein

When looking for a doctor to travel the country and tout its costly prescription fish oil pill, GlaxoSmithKline didn't select a heavyweight university researcher.

 

Instead, it wrote checks to Tara Dall..."As soon as we identify what puts you at risk, we can absolutely fix it," Dall assured them in the talk, a video of which is posted on her Web site. "We can totally prevent cardiovascular disease from happening. We can completely trump genetics."…

 

That's wrong, according to Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, and Raymond Gibbons, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota…

 

"We would like for there to be something to prevent cardiovascular disease from happening," he said. "There is not."

 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, by John Fauber, 3/14/2010

Additional coverage: MedPage Today

Tags: Cancer, Dr. Ray Gibbons, drug firms

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