Image inspired by Charles Pachter
ACRE--A High Powered Harvard Stealth Pharma Front Group
Saturday, 25 July 2009
ACRE's mission is to persuade physicians that MORE rather than less industry involvement in Continuing Medical Education programs is good for patients--much as industry's "Harry and Louise" ads were aimed at convincing the public that universal healthcare was BAD for them.
Daniel Carlat, MD , is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Tufts University School of Medicine Publisher and Editor The Carlat Psychiatry Report Co-chair, CME Committee Massachusetts Psychiatric Society. Above all, he is an independent psychiatrist whose informative blog contains fascinating information about powerful, financially compromised groups such as the APA Task Force that is currently engaged in further expanding psychiatry's diagnostic / practice guide, the DSM-V . Their perspective--given their financial stake--is in sync with Pharma's market expansion agenda.
ACRE is Pharma's latest, powerful, mostly Harvard-based front group: it is spearheaded by Harvard professor, Thomas Stossel, MD. ACRE's mission is to persuade physicians that MORE rather than less industry involvement in Continuing Medical Education programs is good for patients--much as industry's "Harry and Louise" ads were aimed at convincing the public that universal healthcare was BAD for them. Both attempt to confuse. ACRE poses as the Association of Clinical Researchers and Educators.
ACRE held its charter conference earlier this month at Harvard Medical School.l Its steering committee consists of physicians from Harvard Medical School, the State University of New York Downstate and the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Jeffrey Flier, Dean of the Harvard Medical School, introduced this high powered Pharma-physician conference, which was managed by Rockpointe, a science-based medical communications company that produces "educational programs" for doctors most often sponsored by pharmaceutical companies.
Below we post the financial ties uncovered by Dr. Carlat: the ties that bind ACRE steering committee to Big Pharma--ties that were undisclosed on the ACRE website. Of course, it would be most instructive to learn the secret dollar amount that Harvard Medical School--and its affiliated hospitals--rake in from these unabashed marketing promos masquerading as CME courses! Dr. Carlat dubbed the organization, “Academics Craving Reimbursement for Everything.” PharmaGossip renamed ACRE: Forum for University Corporate Kickbacks in Education as Determined by University Professors:
Why is ACRE very ripe for satire? As Dr. Carlat explains, because "it consists of rich doctors complaining that they want more money from drug companies, and such an organization lacks any inherent credibility, and seems, frankly, absurd."
Dr. Carlat noted that "In all the hoopla and excitement of forming a new organization such as ACRE, certain minor details are easy to overlook. One of these details is a listing of financial disclosures, which is conspicuously missing from the ACRE website."
Below are two of Dr. Carlat's ACRE posts--one about the undisclosed financial ties of the speakers and the post describing the flavor of the ACRE conference:
"...the eeriest presentation came from one J. Michael Gonzalez-Campoy, an endocrinologist who was flown out on the ACRE-jet from Minnesota. His job was to convince everybody that Minnesota’s 1993 physician payment disclosure law (the first in the nation) was an awful mistake. His tactic, theoretically, was a good one. “The law has been terrible for patients,” he declared, speaking in the ominous tones of a doctor notifying you of grim laboratory results.
“Oh boy,” I thought, pen poised, “finally, some data on the effects of transparency laws on patient outcomes.” But alas, Dr. Gonzalez-Campoy’s evidence base amounted to a single patient, a 73 year old man with severe diabetes. “Do you know what drug he was on?” He asked incredulously. “The cheapest drug money will buy—Glyburide….When I asked my patient why he was on that drug, I was appalled by his answer. He told me that his PCP said it is the most cost-effective drug.” It got worse: the patient had apparently been reading newspaper articles saying bad things about the newer diabetes drugs, like Avandia. The kicker was when he told Dr. Gonzalez-Campoy that “I’ve read that doctors are getting brain-washed by drug companies to prescribe these drugs.” Don’t you see what the Minnesota disclosure law has wrought? Patients getting prescribed generic medications. Patients reading the newspaper. Patients questioning the morals of their physicians.
The ACRE conference, it would appear was "full of sound and fury signifying nothing."
Posted by Vera Hassner Sharav
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Harvard Medical Students Rebel Against Pharma-Ties Tuesday, 03 March 2009
200 Harvard Medical School STUDENTS are confronting the administration demanding an end to pharmaceutical industry influence in the classroom.
A front page report in the Business section of the New York Times should bestir some of Harvard Medical School alumni. 200 Harvard Medical School STUDENTS are confronting the administration demanding an end to pharmaceutical industry influence in the classroom.
"The students say they worry that pharmaceutical industry scandals in recent years - including some criminal convictions, billions of dollars in fines, proof of bias in research and publishing and false marketing claims - have cast a bad light on the medical profession. And they criticize Harvard as being less vigilant than other leading medical schools in monitoring potential financial conflicts by faculty members."
Harvard received the lowest grade--an F--from the American Medical Student Association, a national group that rates how well medical schools monitor and control drug industry money. Harvard Medical School's peers received much higher grades, ranging from the A for the University of Pennsylvania, to B's received by Stanford, Columbia and New York University, to the C for Yale.
The revolt began when a first year medical student "grew wary" when a professor promoted cholesterol drugs and "seemed to belittle a student who asked about side effects." He later discovered that the professor, a full-time Harvard Medical faculty member, was a paid consultant to 10 drug companies, including manufacturers of cholesterol drugs.
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What happens when drugs, science and money mix at Canadian institutions of learning today? Blandishments and mis-education may well lead to a dangerous lowering of the standard of care. Read Blind Faith here.
Whatever would Dr. Osler say?
