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Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
Cardiologists are too cozy with the industry, so says a report by Marilynn Marchione, quoting Dr. Steven Nissen, chief of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic. While some of the details of his address may be questioned and he may go to too far in the opinion of some, the central thesis provides lot of fodder for discussion especially since this "relationship" is not confined to cardiology alone but holds true for most if not all specialties.
Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?
Before we start throwing stones, let us not forget that not all research can be NIH or government funded and the support of pharmaceutical industry is vital for medical education and research programs.
At the same time, there have not been good watchdogs to prevent conscious or subconscious bias. Physicians especially the thoughtleaders have not been good at policing themselves in order to avoid the perception of having been bought over.
While most of the thought leaders are honest and try to do their best, some of these "thought leader" physicians try to "pay back" in order to get lucrative industry-paid speaking engagements and/or research grants to promote particular drugs, devices or procedures, only to see them flop and fail the test of good evidence based medicine after some time.
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One not so subtle evidence of the physician-industry relationship is what you see as soon as you land at the airport for a national scientific meeting. Drug or device company rented stretch limos are lined up to pick up the thought leaders. The longer the size of limo, the higher the value of the physician to the company. While many of these leaders may not be swayed by this showering of opulance, perception certainly is not very "clean".
With the declining budgets to support academic salaries as well as government-funded clinical research, there does not appear to be an easy and or good solution to the problem.
I sure would love to hear your thoughts on this issue and any potential solutions.
Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
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