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Recent Articles
Support the Therapeutics Initiative!
Our Canadian friends who've been on the forefront of the movement to provide basic information about the best uses of prescription drugs need help.
The Therapeutics Initiative was established in 1994 by the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in cooperation with the Department of Family Practice at The University of British Columbia. It provides health care providers and patients with evidence-based information on drug therapy. TI is an independent organization, at arm's length from government, the pharmaceutical industry and other vested interest groups. The Therapeutics Initiative is funded by the British Columbia Ministry of Health through a grant to the University of British Columbia.
Recently, the BC Ministry of Health convened a task force to examine the process by which the provincial government agrees to cover medications through its Pharmacare program (see this background article on Pharmalot). One of the report's recommendations is to scrap the Therapeutics Initiative because of its "resistance to meaningful stakeholder input."
Um, the independence of TI from "stakeholders" such as the pharmaceutical industry, payers and patient advocacy groups is exactly, in my view, what makes it valuable. (The task force, on the other hand, has been criticized on the grounds that five of nine task force members have ties to Big Pharma.
Among other things, TI took a cautious stance toward refocoxib (Vioxx) and rosiglitazone (Avandia). Both were later linked to an increased risk of heart attacks.
A source tells us the provincial government recently announced that a review of the Therapeutics Initiative would be conducted at the University of British Columbia October 30 and 31, 2008. Bassam Masri, chairman of the Department of Orthopedics at UBC, will serve as chair of the review committee and the external reviewers will be David Henry, President and CEO of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Lisa Dolovich of the Centre for Evaluation of Medicines at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, and Jean Gray of the Department of Pharmacology at Dalhousie University.
Our sources in the international medical community tell us that a letter of support for continued funding for TI is being circulated and will be sent to Dr. Masri. Supporters of TI can write Dr. Masri at the following address:
Bassam A. Masri, M.D.
Gordon & Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre
3rd Floor, 2775 Laurel Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
Canada
bas.masri@vch.ca
-- PM
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Comments
How unfortunate that another attempt to bring validity to therapeutic medicine without influence from big pharma is rearing its head again. As with the financial collapse, trust once bestowed upon big pharma as developers of stellar medicines without taint has dropped to levels below politicos. Cover-ups, lack of integrity, mis-steps and overly heated actions in marketing have done in most of the pharma manufactures- All seem to be scrambling for any foothold in the present market to sell their products and their souls. As the public has been aroused to the less than true statements concerning the medications they once took; the public is using less and certainly not drinking the cool-aid anymore. Cost is dominate in the eyes of the consumer and they see little value in many of the medications being promoted. With pharma moving into more emphasis to treat pediatrics, children and kids with psychotropics the pendulum is swinging even more negative in the publics view. It will take efforts beyond the scope of mortals to return the golden days of pharma. Yes the good days were good, but the good days are gone. Just like the 401k's-
Tom Kaye
Thanks for the information! Here's the mail I sent to Bassam Masri:
Dear Dr Masri,
I hope youll do your work independently and will not follow the instructions of the pharmaceutical industry and its desire to eliminate Therapeutics Initiative! Such groups are extremely valuable: they are the only sources we can trust as we look for an independent and objective medical information.
If Therapeutics Initiative disappears, youll be co-responsible for the triumph of Big Pharma and its methods in British Columbia!
I hope youll think about the consequences of eliminating one by one all the reliable medical instances which are able to think by themselves, without an opinion leader telling them what to say to please Big Pharma... They arent tainted and discredited by conflicts of interest. I hope you don't have such financial ties yourself.
Regards,
PS: Heres a French article about whats happening over there: Big Pharma veut éliminer Therapeutics Initiative, groupe canadien pour l'EBM et un usage raisonnable du médicament"
http://minilien.fr/a0j5gj
Thanks, Pharmacritique, for posting on this issue! Your link was not working for me, so here's another one:
http://pharmacritique.20minutes-blogs.fr/archive/2008/10/15/big-pharma-v...
This is truly beyond the pale. The one group i have looked to for truly independent and reliable reviews being attacked. Has the pendulum not swung far enough?