Skip to main content
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Digital Health
    • Transformation
    • ESG
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Blogs
    • AI
    • Deals
    • Layoff Tracker
    • HIMSS 2023
  • Opinion
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - AI and Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
  • Data & Insights
    • Data & Insights Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • Newsletters
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Physicians
February 26, 2013 11:00 PM

Industry-funded drug studies likely to cite bigger benefits, report finds

Andis Robeznieks
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    The CMS recently released its rules on the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which calls for increased transparency on the financial relationships between physicians and drug and device manufacturers, while a new report provides some light on why such legislation may have been needed.

    The report analyzed pharmaceutical research studies and found that industry-sponsored drug studies were more likely to report greater benefits for the particular drug being studied—but the report couldn't say why this is so. It noted that these results “cannot be explained by standard 'risk of bias' assessment tools.”

    The full analysis (PDF) was written by researchers from the U.S., Canada and Denmark and published by the Cochrane Collaboration, an independent, international research organization based in the U.K. A summary was written by the U.S. researcher involved in the Cochrane review, Lisa Bero, with the University of California San Francisco's department of clinical pharmacy and health policy, and it was published in the American Medical Association's JAMA Internal Medicine (formerly known as the Archives of Internal Medicine).

    The researchers reviewed 48 papers published between 1986 and 2010. The papers were systematic reviews of other studies with a median number of 137 studies per paper. The number of studies included in each of the 48 reviews ranged from nine to 930.

    The researchers found that the number of studies with favorable results were about 24% higher among industry-sponsored studies. Industry-sponsored studies were also less likely to show evidence of harm and more likely to reach “favorable overall conclusions,” according to the report.

    In her JAMA Internal Medicine summary, Bero wrote that no differences were found in the “methodological characteristics” between industry- and non-industry-sponsored studies. In fact, she said industry-sponsored studies “generally reported adequate blinding more often than non-industry-sponsored studies.”

    Despite the lack of a conclusive reason for the findings, Bero wrote that the findings still have important implications.

    “Decision makers must take sponsorship into account when evaluating whether they should base clinical practice and reimbursement on the results of a study,” Bero wrote. “Clinical practice guidelines, which are increasingly based on systematic reviews, should be made more transparent by disclosing the sponsorship of studies included in the guideline and by regarding industry sponsorship as a factor that increases the risk of bias.”

    She concluded that, while improved transparency may be an alert for the potential of bias, it will not eliminate it.

    As for the Sunshine Act, its co-sponsor, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), pledged to “stay vigilant about how this law is implemented.”

    “Disclosure brings about accountability, and accountability will strengthen the credibility of medical research, the marketing of ideas and, ultimately, the practice of medicine,” Grassley said in a news release. “The lack of transparency regarding payments made by the pharmaceutical and medical device community to physicians has created a culture that this law should begin to change substantially.”

    The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America trade association released a statement of its own that sounded similar to Grassley's: “PhRMA remains committed to the principles of the Sunshine Act and continues to believe that careful implementation is essential to ensuring that Sunshine fulfills its objective of usable, transparent and understandable sharing of information.”

    Dr. Jeremy Lazarus, president of the American Medical Association, wrote in a blog post that “the AMA has long supported transparency generally to ensure such relationships are independent and focused on benefiting patients,” but it has also worked to make sure implementation is “not burdensome to physicians” and that doctors had the right to challenge reports they deemed false or misleading.

    “Many of physicians' interactions with manufacturers are essential for the advancement of medicine, from spurring medical innovations to generating research-based insights into treatments,” Lazarus wrote. “The AMA is working to ensure the new database serves to foster—not disrupt—those ties that aim to help improve patient care.”

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    healthcare workers burnout
    Physicians left their jobs by the hundreds of thousands in 2021: report
    careallies patient care
    Physician assistant role sees record growth in 2021
    Most Popular
    1
    Centene to lay off 2,000 workers
    2
    How health systems are battling price-gouging allegations
    3
    Senate advances bill to temporarily aid hospitals, health centers
    4
    Elevance, Blue Cross Louisiana halt $2.5B proposed deal
    5
    Tower Health to sell urgent care centers, close others
    Sponsored Content
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Help Center
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Digital Health
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • ESG
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Blogs
      • AI
      • Deals
      • Layoff Tracker
      • HIMSS 2023
    • Opinion
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - AI and Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
      • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
    • Data & Insights
      • Data & Insights Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • Newsletters
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing