« Raelians = Christians = NutsHomeSimple explanations for simple minds »

Deceptive drug trials

Miracle Cures, Health Quackery

Maybe money can't buy you love but it can buy you scientists.

In 1994, Canadian researchers looked at 69 trials of anti-arthritis drugs funded by drug companies and published in prominent medical journals. In every case the drug made by the company was as good as the comparative treatment, and in a quarter of the trials it was better. Not once did a company fund a trial that proved unfavourable to it. ...

A review published in 2003 found 30 studies that had compared the results of trials funded by drug companies with those funded from other sources. Trials funded by companies were four times more likely to have results favourable to them than those funded by others.

Richard Smith, The Guardian: Foregone conclusions