Saturday, June 04, 2005
So, How Will We Do Research Then?
I could not quite believe this entry in the blog at HuffPo. The doctor seems to think that because a drug company paid for research on one of it's drugs and the journal that published the research takes ads from that same company that the study is de facto unacceptable.
Look, there is no question that money means many illnesses get overlooked in pharmaceutical research, there is not enough money in selling the drug to warrant the development. There is also no doubt that the existence of a drug to treat something somehow makes that something more important in the medical world because doctors and drug companies can make a buck. (Take statins for example, the cholesterol lowering drugs that "have not been proven to prevent heart disease.")
But the system works more than it does not work. The money to do the research has to come from somewhere, and I sure as heck would rather it come from a profit motive than have it taken away from me and redistributed.
Look, there is no question that money means many illnesses get overlooked in pharmaceutical research, there is not enough money in selling the drug to warrant the development. There is also no doubt that the existence of a drug to treat something somehow makes that something more important in the medical world because doctors and drug companies can make a buck. (Take statins for example, the cholesterol lowering drugs that "have not been proven to prevent heart disease.")
But the system works more than it does not work. The money to do the research has to come from somewhere, and I sure as heck would rather it come from a profit motive than have it taken away from me and redistributed.
