Tune-Calling by the Piper's Payer

Just back from a long holiday weekend to find three items in the papers that merit attention.

First, the New York Times editorializes this morning on a 10-day-old story disclosing that the latest guidelines on "pre-hypertension" from the American Society for Hypertension were underwritten by drug manufaturers who sell pills for lowering blood pressure. "No guidelines produced this way will have much credibility," the Times opined. Correct.

This follows hard upon a timely update from the Philadelphia Inquirer on the systematic ties between drug manufacturers and patient advocacy groups.

Finally, the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), breaks some news about the failure of Johnson & Johnson to rapidly pursue a follow-up clinical trial on Natrecor, much to the dismay of physicians like Steve Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic who had identified its dangers in the medical literature as much as a year ago (for more on Natrecor, see this GoozNews). Sadly, FDA deputy chief Scott Gottlieb is quoted at the end of the story coming out against greater powers for the FDA to compel completion of such trials.

Memo to Dr. Gottlieb: You're making a mistake. Just because a government agency has power doesn't mean it will automatically abuse it. But without that power, we have seen time and again that the industry ignores voluntary exhortations to do the right thing. I wonder what the "legendary" heart physician, Dr. Eugene Braunwald, who was brought in by J&J to explore the issue and recommended that the trial be done, is thinking this morning.