Medication Guidelines Published By Drug Company Shills

Authors of published guidelines for prescribing medications often have financial interests in the companies whose treatments they recommend. In about half of the guidelines, at least one author had received research financing from a company that had a connection to the recommendation. We need an expanded definition of a shill.

You would assume that nationally recommended medication guidelines would be created by experts with no financial ties to the medications recommended. Boy, would you be wrong! Authors of published guidelines for prescribing medications often have financial interests in the companies whose treatments they recommend, according to a study published in the Oct. 20 issue of the journal Nature. Source We need to expand the definition of a shill.

Researchers found that in about half of the guidelines, at least one author had received research financing from a company that had a connection to the recommendation, and in 43% of the guidelines surveyed, at least one author had been a paid speaker for a relevant company.

Propsed expanded definition of a shill: 1. One who poses as a satisfied customer or an enthusiastic gambler to dupe bystanders into participating in a swindle. 2. Doctor who promotes the use of a drug without revealing that he has been paid by the drug’s manufacturer.