How the companies that pay for the trials end up writing the rules your doctor must follow, from the Xigris scandal to ivermectin, and why getting caught never stops them.
The problems with BigPharma parallel the problems with BigWhatever-it-is in today's world. Lifting one's gaze from the particular of one area of the problem, such as BigPharma, one can see a larger vista in which the root problem becomes evident. Please read about it here:
I had personal experience with a Xigris trial (~2001-2003) and my experience was much worse than you describe. As a resident in the SICU I noted it killed basically everybody. I remember distinctly in 2002 noting with a friend (also a surgery resident) that I had one of my patient's survive it. He'd had none of his patient's on it survive. We were involved in the trial, so couldn't choose to not give it to our patients, only report the results. If my memory serves me correctly it was 'randomized' but the way it went in, we all knew who got what.
When we (taking care of the patients on Xigris) complained to the Trauma/SICU director of how bad the drug was, we were given a series of 're-education meetings' by very attractive female reps in tight clothes who laughed at all our jokes and well put together men who gave perfectly scripted presentations with language of 'every ICU doctor of quality recognizes this as a game changer that saves lives', and our attending were sold. We were commanded /shamed/ bullied into continuing the trial.
My understanding through back channels is that Xigris was pulled in 2011 reportedly because it 'didn't improve outcomes' but the reality is they pulled it before they were crushed by upcoming lawsuits for the high mortality rate it induced. The removal from the market was a 'limited hangout' for the company to avoid the real fraud that had been committed for years that actually caused a lot of life lost.
Obviously I never prescribed Xigris when given the opportunity to choose and only made fun of any doctor at any ICU I worked at that contemplated it.
Saw something similar with a study I participated in that was published in the NEJM during covid about appendicitis/abx to treat, it was a multicenter trial. The trial was total crap and when we at our institution pointed it out, we were subject to 're-education' , the lead investigator from our institution who actually had ethics was forced to step down as lead investigator and another physician took over as lead investigator and signed off on the crap data being repackaged to fit the pre-determined narrative. She's now published in the NEJM and rose to local prominence. This trial didn't kill a ton of people, but it was crap data.
The pharmaceutical business model is an example of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Stay far away from them. Thank you Dr K for bringing their layers of shady practices to our attention.
I was a former fairly frequent "patient" and am now "impatient" with the ongoing criminal incompetence, greed, and arrogance of too many "garden variety" docs educated by a system that has turned them into pharmaceutical product salespeople. Like millions of others, I have tried to become my own doctor, researching on my own, trusting what happens to me as I experiment with my own body, and trusting what I see happening to others. I think we should trust ourselves more than we trust this corrupted industry.
The problems with BigPharma parallel the problems with BigWhatever-it-is in today's world. Lifting one's gaze from the particular of one area of the problem, such as BigPharma, one can see a larger vista in which the root problem becomes evident. Please read about it here:
https://peterwebster.substack.com/p/methyl-isocyanate
Another great article!
I had personal experience with a Xigris trial (~2001-2003) and my experience was much worse than you describe. As a resident in the SICU I noted it killed basically everybody. I remember distinctly in 2002 noting with a friend (also a surgery resident) that I had one of my patient's survive it. He'd had none of his patient's on it survive. We were involved in the trial, so couldn't choose to not give it to our patients, only report the results. If my memory serves me correctly it was 'randomized' but the way it went in, we all knew who got what.
When we (taking care of the patients on Xigris) complained to the Trauma/SICU director of how bad the drug was, we were given a series of 're-education meetings' by very attractive female reps in tight clothes who laughed at all our jokes and well put together men who gave perfectly scripted presentations with language of 'every ICU doctor of quality recognizes this as a game changer that saves lives', and our attending were sold. We were commanded /shamed/ bullied into continuing the trial.
My understanding through back channels is that Xigris was pulled in 2011 reportedly because it 'didn't improve outcomes' but the reality is they pulled it before they were crushed by upcoming lawsuits for the high mortality rate it induced. The removal from the market was a 'limited hangout' for the company to avoid the real fraud that had been committed for years that actually caused a lot of life lost.
Obviously I never prescribed Xigris when given the opportunity to choose and only made fun of any doctor at any ICU I worked at that contemplated it.
Saw something similar with a study I participated in that was published in the NEJM during covid about appendicitis/abx to treat, it was a multicenter trial. The trial was total crap and when we at our institution pointed it out, we were subject to 're-education' , the lead investigator from our institution who actually had ethics was forced to step down as lead investigator and another physician took over as lead investigator and signed off on the crap data being repackaged to fit the pre-determined narrative. She's now published in the NEJM and rose to local prominence. This trial didn't kill a ton of people, but it was crap data.
I have no conflicts of interest to disclose :)
The pharmaceutical business model is an example of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Stay far away from them. Thank you Dr K for bringing their layers of shady practices to our attention.
I was a former fairly frequent "patient" and am now "impatient" with the ongoing criminal incompetence, greed, and arrogance of too many "garden variety" docs educated by a system that has turned them into pharmaceutical product salespeople. Like millions of others, I have tried to become my own doctor, researching on my own, trusting what happens to me as I experiment with my own body, and trusting what I see happening to others. I think we should trust ourselves more than we trust this corrupted industry.