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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (5321)	12/16/2006 4:43:53 AM
From: zeta1961	Respond to of 10087

<Government medical researchers working for pharma industry> I've been letting my response marinate on this one too;-) This is difficult for me for a few reasons: I've worked in medicine and now I'm an adult consumer and also an investor..my baseline perception of doctors is very, very good(cuz pediatricians are humble!)..but my adult experience has been less than stellar.. During my active nursing career, I was quite insulated from this sort of stuff(doctors and big pharma conflicted relationships)..in the Pedi ICU and pedi ER, it was procedures rather than drugs that we were involved with..Ie, I mentioned in a prior post here about Pearl O'Rourke using a refined heart-lung procedure to take care of babies with certain neonatal disorders.. Truly, it's been since my investing research have I become aware of how some MDs are more concerned with their own wealth and fame than advancing treatments.. After going to some big league investor conferences(JPMorgan's annual biotech confab qJanuary)and major scientific meetings, I've learned, quite sadly, that ordinarily very good physicians have succombed to the pressure and allure that Big Pharma exerts........of course I don't condone it..a reason I sold a position in DNA(Genentech).. The good news is that people are looking at these ties between academia and industry as exemplified in your post..for sure,there's more to come..but also for true, there are doctors that do not particpate..My deceased husband's neuro-oncologist is one of them..yet, he's got colleagues who I call big pharma whores..they'll do whatever study they get paid for.. I will say that one of the reasons I think that makes these pharma kick-backs attractive is because top shelf institutions like the NIH don't pay much in comparison to pharma or private practice in a different city..when you think about the cost of IVY league medical education and the cost of even getting there..I can see how some may get pulled in.. Elisabeth