Drug Companies Pay For Nearly 50% of Scientific Research Studies

RSS Feed

Drug Companies Pay For Nearly 50% of Scientific Research Studies

December 16th, 2015

Awake Goy

Susanne.Posel-Headline.News.Official- clinical.trials.financed.pharmaceutical.corporations.nih_occupycorporatism Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Co-Founder, Legacy Bio-Naturals
December 15, 2015

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHB) published a study showing that a startling number of scientific research is paid for by corporations, while the number of studies financed by the government is dwindling.

The team analyzed data from ClinicalTrials.gov going back from 2006 to 2014, only to find that there has been a 43% increase in pharmaceutical industry backed trials. Conversely, the number of studies financed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had declined by 24% within the same time frame.

The reason for this discrepancy is “a decline in discretionary spending by the US federal government.”

According to the study , “these changes mean industry-funded clinical trials have a growing influence compared to government-supported trials. While companies have a vested interest in the outcomes of their clinical trials, government-financed trials often lead to prevention and treatment recommendations.”

Stephan Ehrhardt, an associate professor in the JBH’s department of epidemiology and lead author on the paper, commented: “My concern is that independent trials are on the decline and that means we have less high-quality data to inform public health that are not influenced by commercial interests. When I am doing a government-funded trial comparing two treatments, I start with the assumption that both treatments are equal. I don’t have a vested financial interest in the outcome.”

Ehrhardt added: “But when I am a drug company testing my new product, my objectivity can be compromised by the company’s bottom line since it costs me millions of dollars to develop and test my product to get it on the market. It might be difficult for me to be completely objective. The stakes are very high.”

These findings correlate with a report published earlier this year which found that 1 in 10 board members at for-profit healthcare corporations were also researchers from academic or nonprofit institutions.

In order to limit the amount of cross-contamination in the field of scientific research, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates all “pharmaceutical and medical device companies report any payments made to physicians and medical centers; including funding for research, travel, honorariums, speaking fees, meals and educational items.”