WHAT DOCTORS DON'T TELL YOU - E-NEWS BROADCAST No.32 - 24 Apr 03

THE SUBTLE CHARMS OF THE DRUG COMPANIES: Funding that buys complicity

Take a look behind most large 'patient groups' or illness support groups and
you'll find the benevolent hand of a drug company.  It may be funding the
group with a small donation, or perhaps it helped develop the website-all
small change to the drug company, but it's a vital injection of funds for
the group, and it's enough to buy their support.

Just ask one of these large groups about alternative remedies or non-drug
therapies, and you'll quickly discover just how loyal they can be to their
benefactor.  And their approach adds credibility to the drugs approach (even
though few in the media seem to realize it is a stance that has been
bought).

This age-old strategy has finally come to the attention of the American
group for senior citizens, AARP, which has 35 million members aged over 50.
AARP has discovered that three rival groups, the United Seniors Association,
the Seniors Coalition and the 60-Plus Association, have all received
substantial drug company funding in the last few years.

While UK patient groups may be thankful for a donation of a few thousand
pounds, their American counterparts have enjoyed extraordinary largesse from
the drug companies, including the funding of a multi-million dollar tv
advertising campaign.  Mind you, much of the advert was devoted to extolling
the virtues of the drugs industry.

As an AARP spokesman said: "When the pharmaceutical industry speaks these
days, many Americans may not be able to recognize its voice.  That's because
the industry often uses 'front groups' that work to advance its agenda under
the veil of other interests."

When asked to comment about the allegations, a spokesman for the American
drugs industry was nonplussed. "I don't see a problem here," he said.

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2003; 326: 351).