Peter Gøtzsche, MD
September 9, 2013
There are many good
books about the crimes in the drug industry and the widespread corruption of
the profession to which I belong; doctors. I had therefore promised myself that
I would not write one. But two things in particular made me change my mind in
the summer of 2012.
In 2007, PhD student
Anders Jørgensen and I applied for access to trial protocols and clinical study
reports for two slimming pills at the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Our
request was flatly denied with the excuse that the documents could not be
released because it would undermine commercial interests. We complained to the
European ombudsman, and he agreed with us that these documents did not contain
commercially confidential information. When, after 3 years, the agency was
still completely resistant to our arguments and those of the ombudsman, he
accused the EMA of maladministration. This caused the EMA to change its stance
completely. Its director left the agency to consult for drug companies, and the
new director introduced a far-reaching openness policy in accordance with the
ombudsman’s wishes and in accordance with the principles on which the EU are
based.
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