The Associated Press

                        June 14, 2004, Monday, BC cycle

                        12:54 AM Eastern Time

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 647 words

HEADLINE: Drug company influence under microscope at annual AMA meeting

BYLINE: By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer

DATELINE: CHICAGO

BODY:
Drug companies' influence on medical research and on doctors themselves
will be under the microscope as the nation's largest group of physicians
gathers for its annual meeting this week.
Proposals facing the American Medical Association include a measure
seeking to make all drug study results public, even unpublished research
funded by pharmaceutical companies that might reflect poorly on their
products.
The measure stems partly from concern over unpublished data linking some
antidepressants with suicidal behavior in children. Government officials
are investigating the potential link. 
Another measure would strengthen a policy the AMA adopted last year on
"shadowing," the practice of drug company representatives sitting in on
patients' visits with their doctors.
Critics say the practice is an attempt to influence what medicines are
prescribed. Drug companies say the practice is educational, but they
sometimes pay hundreds of dollars a day to the doctors for these
visiting rights - money the new measure says doctors should refuse.
The more than 250 proposals prepared for the meeting, which began
Saturday, also ask the AMA to take a stand on issues that include the
obesity epidemic, the execution of juvenile criminals and the harvesting
of organs from patients who haven't explicitly given consent.
The generally cautious AMA frequently avoids taking bold stands on
controversial issues, and many proposals at the five-day meeting will be
rejected or revised before being sent to the group's delegates, who
begin voting Monday afternoon on policies to adopt.
A new financial report touts the group's fiscal health, showing a $20.1
million operating profit in 2003 - the fourth consecutive year of
operating in the black. The increase from $11.7 million in 2002 was
attributed partly to revenues from publishing and sources other than AMA
dues, which have been declining along with membership.
The AMA had 250,830 members in 2003, down from 260,455 in 2002,
representing about a third of the nation's doctors and medical students.
Still, any AMA support could lend credence to the meeting's proposals,
including the move to make all drug study results public.
As drafted, the measure would ask the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services to consider forming a national registry of all drug
studies, possibly available over the Internet.
Alan Goldhammer of the industry group Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America said a public research registry could lead to
misinterpretation.
"Those are the kinds of things that we'd have to look at and discuss
before endorsing or rejecting any proposal," Goldhammer said.
Calls for publicizing all drug studies also have come from the American
Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry and bioethicists concerned about industry influence on
doctors.
"It would be good to see the AMA get on board," said Merrill Goozner of
the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "Medical professionals
who are after all the prescribers and the primary users of these tools
... should be the guys in the forefront" of the issue, Goozner said.
It is critical for doctors to have all information on tested drugs so
they can make informed prescribing decisions, said Dr. David Fassler, a
Vermont psychiatrist.
Drug companies aren't required to publish study results, and medical
journal editors "are at the mercy of what is sent in the mail," said Dr.
Catherine DeAngelis, editor of the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
Drug company-funded submissions more often than not have positive
results, a phenomenon called publication bias.
DeAngelis voiced support for the push for a national registry, as did
Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.
On the Net:
AMA: http://www.ama-assn.org

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html