Are Drug Industry-Psychiatry Ties Huge?
Are Drug Industry-Psychiatry Ties Huge? Wednesday July 16, 2008#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3)At first the probe of financial ties between pharmaceutical companies and psychiatric researchers focused on individual doctors, uncovering some very troubling circumstances. But now Congress is pointing fingers at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) itself. Watchdog and anti-psychiatry organizations have long been saying that researchers and practitioners are hand-in-glove with “Big Pharma,” and it appears that at least in some cases this is true. Limited data shows that drug companies tend to pay psychiatrists more than they do other doctors, and that those who receive money may tend to write more prescriptions for medications made by the companies who paid them. Expect this investigation to continue for a long time. With every new revelation, our credibility with patients has been damaged, and we have to protect that first and foremost, Steven Sharfstein, a
