March 19, 2010 /EIN PRESSWIRE/ The relationship between the scientific community and pharmaceutical companies is coming under fire again.
At the center of the most recent black eye is the diabetes drug Avandia. The immensely popular drug was linked with an increased risk of heart attacks in research published in 2007. Since the findings, the scientific community has largely come to the defense of the drug, but a new report suggests a growing concern with conflict of interest between scientists and pharmaceutical companies.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic analyzed more than 200 articles published after 2007 in scientific journals, which commented on the heart-attack risk associated with Avandia. They found 47% of the study authors had financial conflicts of interest, but 23% of them not disclose it.
The Mayo study says 94% of the authors who had positive views about Avandia had financial links with pharmaceutical companies and 87% had financial links with the drug’s manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline.
Of the 29 articles strongly recommending the rival Eli Lilly drug, Actos, as a replacement for Avandia, 25 were by authors with financial links to Lilly.
Read more at Pharmaceutical Industry Today:
Avandia news – http://pharmaceuticals.einnews.com/news/avandia
Actos news – http://pharmaceuticals.einnews.com/news/actos
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