Former NEJM editor comments about medical research

Marcia Angell's articles in the NY Review of Books condemn big Pharma ("Drug Companies and Doctors: A Story of Corruption," "The Truth About Drug Companies," and "FDA: This Agency May Be Dangerous" for just three). Marcia Angell is a Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and former Editor in Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine, so not a medical lightweight.

Among other things, Angell exposes the myth that higher drug company profits produce better medicines. She notes that 55% of their gross profits now go toward marketing, while they spend only 15% of those gross profits on research & development (R&D). They primarily direct R&D toward extending the patent life of existing drugs (something like "time-release viagra") rather than innovative cures for diseases, too. Big Pharma tends to buy the small companies that do drug innovation rather than funding their own research. Please note, this is a statistical observation, not an anecdote. I'm sure there are real, innovative medications coming from Pfizer, etc., but those aren't the majority, says Angell.


Her FDA comments culminate in something like the statement "I trust none of the research influenced by for-profit big Pharma" ... which is the large portion of drug research conducted in the U.S. Whew! "None" is a lot.