“When diet doesn’t work”

Here is a graphic illustration of the concept of moral hazard as applied to the drug treatment of lifestyle diseases.

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Reprinted from AdWatch

Many studies confirm that doctors’ behaviour can be influenced by drug advertising, but many of them are unaware of this.
Not only the advertising text, but also the images play an important part.
See below, for instance, the image in the Lescol advertisement published in the April 2008 issue of Rivista SIMG (Journal of the Italian Society of General Practitioners).

Lescol (fluvastatin sodium) is one of the statin class of drugs used to treat of high cholesterol when diet and other lifestyle changes don’t work.
The Summary of Product Characteristics states “for best results in lowering cholesterol, it is important that you closely follow the diet suggested by your doctor”.

What kind of advice could the doctor have given the two people on the beach?

They seem to be really happy and relaxed. The pastel colours, the calm sea and the blue sky in the background convey the impression that all is going well and no changes are needed.

The designer must have been influenced by the Colombian painter Fernando Botero, famous for his fat men and women, who generally emanate a sense of calmness and satisfaction.

What I can understand, as a doctor, after looking at this image?
“It doesn’t matter what I advise my patients to eat; it isn’t worth them trying to change their lifestyle behaviours.
Only the pill can make the difference!”

FREE LUNCHES COME AT A PRICE

No professional should take any benefits from any industry for which s/he makes recommendations to clients. Medical licensing bodies should de-license any doctor who does so.

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FREE LUNCHES COME AT A PRICE
ALEX ROSLIN SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
The Gazette
12 Sep 2009

Adam Hofmann is used to getting teased about his lunch. It’s not because his mom gave him something uncool to eat. It’s because he paid for it. Hofmann is a doctor and fifth-year medical resident at McGill University. Lunchtime is often when residents…read more…

Tech Tags: The Gazette newspaper Taking Their Medicine Part 2

Drug Dealers Fund Doctors’ Education

Here is a classic example of Big Pharma controlling what doctors get to hear during “continuing medical education”. Big Pharma pays big money to have their logos appear below that of McGill, a presumed institute of higher learning that is tacitly approving of their drugs and the methods they use to promote them.

There is always the meaningless disclaimer about how the grants are “unrestricted”. Just try inviting a speaker who is at all critical of Big Pharma and see how fast the grant disappears.

How much does the McGill Faculty of Medicine receive? How much of the money goes into undergraduate education? Is the money also influencing what gets taught to medical students?

Write to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Richard Levin,  and try to get his answers. Lots of luck.

Drug costs have ballooned in Quebec

Why am I not surprised? In Quebec, doctors are paid by drug dealers to prescribe drugs.

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Drug costs have ballooned in Quebec
AARON DERFEL GAZETTE HEALTH REPORTER
The Gazette
17 Apr 2009

Quebec spends far more on prescription drugs than any other province or territory in Canada – a factor that’s to blame for spiralling healthcare costs, a new study reveals. More disturbing, Quebec has gone from spending the least of any province on…read more…

Tech Tags: The Gazette newspaper Montreal

OBSTAT-Doctors being paid to push drug study

“Dr. LeLorier reports having served as a paid speaker or consultant for the following manufacturers of statins: Merck Frosst Canada, Pfizer Canada, AstraZeneca, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.” Why would anyone take any advice on statins from him?

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Doctors being paid to push drug study
BY TOM BLACKWELL
National Post
03 Apr 2009

Quebec doctors are being offered $100 for every new patient they put on cholesterollowering statin drugs as part of a major, federally subsidized study that is raising questions about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on health…read more…

Tech Tags: National Post newspaper Canada

Drug Marketing by “Study”