How to Protect Yourself from the Spin Doctors

Dangerous Spin Doctors #6
Mark Hyman November 29

How to Protect Yourself from the Spin Doctors

1. Follow the money: Be a detective and look up the articles mentioned in the news. Find the study, see who wrote it, and determine what financial conflicts of interest they have. Also check who funded the research.
2. Do your homework: Be suspicious of media reports of scientific findings. Does the finding make sense in the context of other studies and is it the best possible approach. Educate yourself by learning to use PUBMED (the National Library of Medicine) and reviewing different perspectives.
3. Does it pass the “sniff test”: Is the treatment suggested just a “me-too” drug that has not been proven to be any better than existing treatments? Does it make sense to you or does something smell rotten? Trust your intuition.
4. Advocate for an arm’s length relationship between industry and academia. Write your Senators and Congressmen to develop new regulations and legislation that will build a fire-wall to protect us. Grants are fine, but Pharma should have no participation in study design and should not be allowed to interpret or publish results.
5. Demand a no-revolving door policy between industry and government regulators. Former drug companies executives should not be on FDA committees or involved in regulation or legislation.
6. Advocate for comparative effectiveness research. Preventing this research allows Pharma not to play fair.
7. Campaign for finance reform, if done effectively, can limit the influence of industry on government.

Don’t let yourself be confused by poor reporting in the media. Learn to see through the collusion between Big Pharma and medicine by staying ahead of the medical spin doctors using these steps. For more information on the extant comparative effectiveness research between lifestyle medicine and pharmaceuticals see my recent blog posts on http://www.drhyman.com/

To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD

References

1. Boutron, I., Dutton, S., Ravaud, P., and D.G. Altman. 2010. Reporting and interpretation of randomized controlled trials with statistically nonsignificant results for primary outcomes. JAMA. 303(20): 2058–64.
2. Mora, S., Glynn, R.J., Hsia, J., et al. 2010. Statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular events in women with elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein or dyslipidemia: results from the Justification for the Use of Statins in Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER) and meta-analysis of women from primary prevention trials. Circulation. (9):1069–77.
3. de Lorgeril, M., Salen, P., Abramson, J., et al. 2010. Cholesterol lowering, cardiovascular diseases, and the rosuvastatin-JUPITER controversy: a critical reappraisal. Arch Intern Med. 170(12):1032–6. Review.
4. http://bostonreview.net/BR35.3/angell.php
5. Abramson, J., and J.M. Wright. 2007. Are lipid-lowering guidelines evidence-based? Lancet. 369(9557):168–9.
6. Tricoci, P., Allen, J.M., Kramer, J.M, et al. 2009. Scientific evidence underlying theACC/AHA clinical practice guidelines. JAMA. 301(8):831–841.
7. Einhorn, P.T., Davis, B.R., Wright, J.T. Jr., et al. 2010. ALLHAT Cooperative Research Group. ALLHAT: still providing correct answers after 7 years. Curr Opin Cardiol. 25(4):355–65.
8. Woodcock, J., Sharfstein, J.M., and M. Hamburg, 2010. Regulatory action on Rosiglitazone by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. N Engl J Med. 10.1056/NEJMp1010788
9. Dentzer S. 2009. Communicating medical news–pitfalls of health care journalism. N Engl J Med. 360(1):1–3.

http://www.drfranklipman.com/dangerous-spin-doctors-7-steps-to-protect-yourself-from-deception-in-medical-research/