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Toronto Star, May 9/17: "Let the sun shine on doctors' ties to pharma"


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The OxyContin story is a particularly egregious example of what can happen at the pharma-physician interface. Companies don’t always use false information to “educate” doctors about their drugs, but they tend to selectively present information favouring their products. Doctors are free to do their own research, but the reality of medical practice is that few have the time.

 

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/05/09/let-the-sun-shine-on-doctors-ties-to-pharma.html

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Good article- David Juurlink again.  :thumbsup:  Thanks for this Lapis!  Glad to see attention being drawn to this in Canada, as it has been in the US and other countries, where some laws have been enforced:

 

Pharma’s voluntary initiative is a thinly veiled attempt to clean up its image. In reality, sunshine can only result if Canada’s Food and Drugs Act is amended to require individual drug manufacturers to disclose financial dealings with individual physicians. It’s time the Canadian medical profession and its provincial licensing bodies publicly supported reform of this sort. Otherwise, drug companies and their agents will continue to have undue influence on what doctors prescribe.

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Yes, good article! He's not afraid to say what needs to be said. I've got much respect for him.

 

I'm not sure how much pharmaceutical pressure there is when it comes to benzos. There's clear misinformation in the case of opioids, e.g. saying they don't create dependencies or addictions, when they clearly do. With benzos, however, I'd be curious to know what's happening. Doctors seem happy to prescribe them because they work, and because it's easy to do so. Are the pharmaceutical companies influencing the doctors, or do they already consider them to be great medications? Can we ever get clear answers to these questions? Probably not. But inquiring minds want to know!

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Since the medications work so well in the short-term, seems most doctors presume and were probably told that this is the case long-term and they just didn't follow up and do their own research.  I wonder if they were just as gullible as we were.  And then what do they do when confronted with the truth??? ...

 

Yup, I'd sure like to know what goes on in their heads. :idiot:  Someone should do a study on that! There just aren't enough studies out there.  ;):P

 

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There is a study on that!  Thanks for finding it Lapis. :smitten: That can't have been easy.  Hmmm, what can I say...another interesting study with "potential". 

 

Conclusion:

Benzodiazepine prescribing decisions in primary care are complex, demanding and uncomfortable. This study has increased our understanding of why this is so and has the potential to inform future interventions to improve adherence to prescribing guidance and improve prescribing of benzodiazepines through enhanced education and training of professionals on benzodiazepine use and withdrawal, greater provision of alternatives to drugs, reflective practice, and better communication with patients. Finally, our findings have wider implications for difficult prescribing decisions since similar issues often apply to other prescribing contexts.

 

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Yes, I first read it quite awhile ago, and I found it fascinating. I've come across other abstracts that refer to doctors' perceptions when it comes to prescribing, but this is one of the few where I was able to get a full article.
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