posted
Doesn't surprise me. Wondering if there is more incentive for fraud in medical research than other kinds? Lyme patients have certainly had front row seats on medical research fraud.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
You have to read the find print in research articles, for one thing. How many people were in the trial, WHO did the trial, how long was treatment, etc.
Lots of variables can be used to make the outcome more in liking with what the researcher WANTS.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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I've also heard of cases in which trials were faked.
One such study involved a medication which causes a hole to be punched into the esophagus...on the way down to the digestive tract. Patients are told to stand up when taking the drug, said the doctor giving the lecture which I attended, or else they develop painful and difficult swallowing (hole in the esophagus). To boot, the drug (for osteoporosis) barely even works, said the lecturing physician.
In this above-referenced "study" the drug company simply lumped symptom-developing patients into the "pre-existing conditions" category. And the FDA just looked the other way and passed the drug.
Then there are more stories, true ones, of faked studies by pharmaceutical companies:
quote: Now being reported across the mainstream media is the fact that Dr. Reuben accepted a $75,000 grant from Pfizer to study Celebrex in 2005. His research, which was published in a medical journal, has since been quoted by hundreds of other doctors and researchers as "proof" that Celebrex helped reduce pain during post-surgical recovery. There's only one problem with all this: No patients were ever enrolled in the study!
I personally also came across the fraud machine as I was researching a drug, radioactive iodine, used for calming down a hyper thyroid.
I searched on Pubmed, only to find a major discrepancy between American and European studies, about the same drug.
6 European studies (I did not only look at one, for all the reasons above) from Germany, England and Italy were *vociferous* in their wording, I am quoting exactly:
This is "an extremely dangerous" Drug, to be used "only as a last resort, when operations are contra-indicated. Side effects of leukemia are widely under-reported". All European studies agreed.
American studies agreed with each other too, but not with Europe: This is a very fine drug, the side effect of leukemia is only occasional. Words to that effect.
Why this discrepancy?
A NP told me that "the drug studies are done in the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry. They pay highly credible universities to conduct their studies to look credible to the public".
As it turns out, an insider also shared with me the pressures on doctors who are "encouraged" by the insurance companies to prescribe this drug (in the USA) because it only requires one night in the hospital, and no further follow-up pills and very few if any followup visits. A lot cheaper for the insurance companies. That' s very nice for them, eh?
posted
Amen, Lymetoo! I think in addition, we should always inquire who funded the study, what cultural cross-sectors were selected for study, how many participants were in the trial, and yes how long the trial went is key. Short trials aren't highly credible, or shouldn' t be, at least in most cases.
In vitro (test tube) lab readings result in somewhat different readings than in vivo (in the body). In vitro tests are often referred to, but the in vivo (in the body) is much more reliable as reference, generally speaking.
The fact that good trials last for long times, often a year or more, is also why most trials are not affordable and why the BigPharma has the cutting edge on studies, more so than other sources. Something to consider.
And of course, Big Pharma and the FDA want to go so far as to gag the science about naturopathics! Isn't that part of the fraud matters at hand too? I would say the same if it was mainstream drugs involved, to assure everyone reading this. Check this out, a US District Judge in DC struck down the proposed law as unconstitutional and a violation of free speech, saying that the motives were clear from the start. The FDA may appeal:
Sometimes it doesn't even take studies for us to be wrongfully convinced. The Swine Flu pandemic is one such example:
According to the Center for Disease Control, in the year 2009 during a 9 month period, there were 2498 deaths USA-wide (out of 304 million Americans) which is a lot more deaths than we want to see, for sure. However, that also can hardly qualify as a "pandemic" and that they are selling us their vaccines and drugs is obvious. Something to think about, next time around? CDC Swine Flu statistics here:
Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health posted to their website that 40% of our nation will develop cancer in their lifetime, of whom 21% will die of it each year. Sorry to scare anybody, that is not the point here. They blamed environmental chemicals for the true pandemic, cancer.
Why is the CDC and why is the FDA not telling us about the real pandemic, cancer? Or why are they not peeling as many alarm bells about it as they did about the so-called swine flu "pandemic" which claimed less than 1/10th of 1% of American lives?
So much for our need to be convinced by studies, which are sometimes faked anyway, eh? Time to think and research a bit more? Methinks yes, it's to our own health benefit. Food for thought.
PS and yes, of course there are many very well designed and highly credible studies. I am not trying to suggest that we should turn a skeptical eye to them all. I am suggesting we should probe a bit before we always believe it, that's all.
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