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Harvard Medical Students Rebel Against Big Pharma

ahrp.org — 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.

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 19, 2009

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  • inactive, on 04/19/2009, -8/+360FTA - The fact is, no one is keeping track of faculty income from industry, or covert marketing pitches infiltrating the classroom: "The school said it was unable to provide annual measures of the money flow to its faculty.." One Harvard professor's disclosure in class listed 47 company affiliations.

    Thankfully some students are revolting against the system. I fear that they will indoctrinated later.
  • FrozenPie, on 04/19/2009, -3/+293Military Industrial Complex
    Medical Industrial Complex
    Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex
    Financial Industrial Complex

    what else?
  • inactive, on 04/19/2009, -3/+179Don't forget the Prison Industrial Complex, which is fueled by the "War on Drugs"
  • emazur, on 04/19/2009, -15/+179Good for them - medicine is what a consider to be one of the very few worthwhile majors at colleges/universities, and it's unfortunate to see it going into the pocket of big pharma
  • emazur, on 04/19/2009, -2/+126Educational Industrial Complex
  • kaelyiesta, on 04/19/2009, -1/+121Wonderful article. Its good to see people(even if a small group of people) remaining vigilant.
  • bugwayji, on 04/19/2009, -13/+121 Oh, oh, the Sheeple are starting to ask questions, this won't bod well for profit.
  • inactive, on 04/19/2009, -4/+112Silly students. How do they expect to profit from their chosen career if they don't hawk dangerous, useless, and most importantly, expensive drugs? That's the whole racket. Looking at skinned knees ain't gonna pay for your chateau in Aspen.

    Integrity is for poor people.
  • sekone, on 04/19/2009, -4/+110sponsored teachers ftw!
    -in today's class we will take a look at the shamwow, u will be saying WOW every time u use this towell.
  • allowners, on 04/19/2009, -3/+103Harvard has turned into finishing school for the sleazy elite, that class of the elite sustained on corruption alone.
  • LamontSanders, on 04/19/2009, -6/+74As a medical student at another school I am amazed that HMS did not take institutional action long ago to force faculty to declare conflicts of interest and to ban pharmaceutical reps from even entering the building. This is the trend with med schools now, which is a great thing. Yes, it kind of sucks that I don't get 1000 free pens and mugs and t-shirts...but its better in the end because drugs will be less expensive, more money will go into R&D (where it SHOULD go, not advertising), and I will be able to do a better job later on. Not really sure why this made front page, but if people are interested, by all means digg the article.
  • novenator, on 04/19/2009, -2/+56It's too bad really. Social mobility was once an American virtue.
  • clvngodess, on 04/19/2009, -2/+52Prison Industrial Complex, don't forget this one.
  • RonPauls, on 04/19/2009, -21/+62Good. Hopefully they realize that "big pharma" is big cause of government.
  • bobbi21, on 04/19/2009, -1/+39Surprised my med school is actually doing better at this. We're so anti-pharm company now we aren't even allowing free pens from pharm companies anywhere in the hospital or university.

    Guess it's good, of course it sucks not getting tons of free stuff from someone :P (they used to give out free trips to Cancun and such. So much marketing... of course have 1 commercial on tv and you get enough patients begging for the drug or they'll sue you. Either way works for them it seems)
  • kuantan97, on 04/19/2009, -6/+41Fear not. The FDA will set things right.
  • mark5hs, on 04/19/2009, -5/+39Harvard is usually pretty good about listening to their students. Hopefully this dick loses his job.
  • Menzo, on 04/19/2009, -3/+36Industrial Industrial Complex
  • inactive, on 04/19/2009, -7/+40You'll soon see a religious industrial complex.
  • inactive, on 04/19/2009, -14/+45@FrozenPie and Emazur

    Didn't you forget the most important?

    New York Banking/ Federal Reserve complex
  • danielbeatty, on 04/19/2009, -0/+30I hear sarcasm in that comment
  • maxtangent, on 04/19/2009, -0/+30Propaganda Industrial Matrix
    Militarized "Law Enforcement" Industrial Complex


  • tigerpixel, on 04/19/2009, -6/+36Pharmaceutical companies make oil companies seem like a group of decent people tying to make a honest profit.The price fixing and refusal to provide new drugs are all because big business and greed pollutes intelligent members of the scientific an medical community.Bio Medical Science is one of the most lucrative and corrupt strands of science on the planet.You can't put a price on people lives but these guys will try anyways.
  • crazymonkey1, on 04/19/2009, -0/+27AKA Financial Industrial Complex
  • uberdragon, on 04/19/2009, -5/+31Big Pharma has been recruiting doctors and teachers for years to try and convince us to buy their processed drugs. I'd like to see the medical marijuana commercial where the side effects are listed, "may cause happiness, may cause you to be hungry, may cause you to be creative, may promote sharing of marijuana with others"
  • AzzuzuSkullpipe, on 04/19/2009, -0/+26I agree except that this is a different situation. It's not just what the professors do on the side, it's a potential conflict of interest when they are educating up and coming medical professionals. They are literally being paid to be biased toward one or more companies' products.

    The comparison would be if your professor who made antennas on the side touted them in class as the most effective, or the only effective, antennas without creating an environment for open comparison of all available options.
  • tomarocco, on 04/19/2009, -1/+26Entertainment Industrial Complex
  • dancantone, on 04/19/2009, -26/+50About ***** time the blood stained sheet gets jerked back for all to see the horrors bestowed on us all through big pharma and their exotic chemical poisons!!
  • sonnybobiche, on 04/19/2009, -8/+31Yeah! Like... chemotherapy, antibiotics, analgesics, steroids, anticoagulants, and hundreds of other life saving medications.
    We don't need them! We have chakra stones and acupuncture and yoga!
  • firesphotons, on 04/19/2009, -8/+31New age snake oil peddlers and people can't get enough of it. Why their marketing is so effective I've actually been asked if I recommend a certain drug even though I make it clear I'm in no position to do so. People are looking for answers to live happier and healthier. The secrets are taking matters into your own hands as much as possible. Looking for the root causes of any ailments you suffer and actively pursuing natural solutions complemented with medicines necessary to manage whatever befalls you.
  • apothekari, on 04/19/2009, -2/+23Welcome my son...To the Machine.

    A Corptocracy, Of the company, By the company, For the Company.
  • DankBuddz, on 04/19/2009, -1/+22This is for those people on Digg I was arguing with a month ago about how much Big Pharma has an influence on the education of our medical professionals. Glad to finally see an article like this so people can really understand.
  • junyamint, on 04/19/2009, -1/+20The trend to declare associations with industry is the norm now at medical schools and in medical research. I am a MD/PhD at a medical school (not harvard) and all our professors must declare to there class all there drug company associations, for profit groups, non profit groups, governmental boards, and any books they've written or edited on the subject they are lecturing on. It makes for a shocking first few lecture slides when you see how these guys both work for pharma and non-profits some times. However, they are not allowed to test us on the brand name of prescribed drugs only the generic name. In fact, except a few very common drugs (Aspirin, Tylenol) the board exams we take do not have the trade names of drug.

    Finally we have all been told about how much money the generics save for the consumer and the government. We are told that if a generic is available and that we are supposed to prescribe it! If there is patient who comes in looking for a name brand pain killer iel. vicodin and they get upset that our perscription says the generic ie. hydrocodone/paracetemol we are supposed to assume they are gaming the system and trying to just sell the pain meds.

    As far as research goes whenever you write a grant proposal to the NIH (national institute of health) you have to declare all the same things I said above. If there is any financial interest that can be gained by your work the University / NIH usually require that you take action to minimize it or the grand will never come your way.
  • trencadis, on 04/19/2009, -7/+26About time. Government has a role here, stop the greed and corruption of people without ethics and markets with poor regulations.
  • otbeverly, on 04/19/2009, -2/+21Went to a land grant polytechnic institute for one year. I was grossly unprepared for the mathematical component of an engineering degree (my fault to some degree, my parents another for pushing me towards engineering because "I liked to play with legos as a kid,"). That being said, I wound up transferring to a liberal arts college and graduating with a degree in communications, which really hasn't done much for me since I was already working in the field.

    However, I did graduate near the top of my class and was one of the few students who actually cared about my work, simply because I was being judged for it by my professors. There were others who were struggling through the same curriculum who could hardly finish a sentence, but they'll use their ASSetts to get through life. But when it was all said and done, I learned very little in college. Other than the fact that I could set goals, achieve them and a few leadership and teamwork skills, there wasn't much of a tangible effect on my intellect. Sure, I loved the Philosophy classes that were part of the corps curriculum with Logic, Exisentialism, World Religions, etc., but other than making for good conversation and showing others how to prove a point logically valid or invalid (or pointing out the fallacy in another's assertion), there was little to show.

    Sure, I'm a more rounded person. But to go $60,000 in the hole and come right out into a dying field and worsening economy has forced me to question the true merits of a college degree. I know some employers likely screen out candidates without a bachelor's or master's degree, but they are often selling themselves short. The system as a whole is broken.
  • Paranor01, on 04/19/2009, -1/+19@bewildered2009: That was the 1st of them all
  • ender1984, on 04/19/2009, -0/+18Can anyone tell me the atomic weight of Bolognium?
  • Arkyll, on 07/16/2009, -3/+21Good. I see my medications go up 100% a night and there is no way that is supply and demand. Its more like greed and more greed!
  • alphaterminus, on 04/19/2009, -1/+18But Trovan and Vioxx always had the best pens!
  • Skootles, on 04/19/2009, -0/+17Delicious?
  • nickeeeast, on 04/19/2009, -1/+17I don't think you could forget these horrible organizations...

    Oil companies

    Telecommunications

    Insurance

    Main Stream Media

  • codyjohnle, on 04/19/2009, -4/+20porn industrial complex
  • ChinaLumberjack, on 04/19/2009, -3/+18"The school said it was unable to provide annual measures of the money flow to its faculty.."

    So Americas top business school fails at basic accounting?
  • tgc1, on 04/19/2009, -3/+18I had a feeling this sort of thing was happening. It's not that hard to put the connections together. It's something that's freaked me out for a while, but never had a way of confirming it until now.

    Big Pharma and a lot of special, private interests seem to be hoarding more and more control over every facet of our lives. In research circles, large companies supply the equipment and labs necessary to do the research. A lot of them require researchers to forfeit any discoveries made in those labs to those companies who later patent them and use them in their products. Things are quickly becoming perverted in favor of mega corporations who own, essentially, everything. Guaranteeing obscene profits for decades to come. The same can be said in University circles where students discoveries are now being claimed by universities, who also later patent those discoveries and take legal action against the student for trying to use their discoveries later.

    I've also noticed collusion with government and big businesses who are attempting to pass legislation to ban certain substances from private ownership. This includes certain chemicals and materials used for research. Chemicals used in chemistry, etc... which are ending up on lists of banned substances or that which requires special licensing or incredibly high fees associated with their procurement. This seems like an intentional move to push those things out of the hands of private researchers. Or otherwise inflate the costs of doing said research so that only large corporations can afford to do it. Thereby securing their place as owners of this knowledge, the discoveries made in their labs, and the patents they own as a result.

    I'm not sure what we can do, if anything. But these are very troubling times ahead. And i'm worried that one day we may find that corporations own EVERYTHING, and perhaps even every one of us.
  • haiduz, on 04/19/2009, -7/+20Light Snacks Industrial Complex
    Tupperware Industrial Complex
    Toiletries Industrial Complex
    Oriental Rugs Industrial Complex

    what else?
  • ricker2005, on 04/19/2009, -0/+13You actually can put a price on a person's life if you are a pharm company. If you didn't, then you wouldn't be a company. You'd be a charity that was handing out drugs for free.
  • Vaiper, on 04/19/2009, -0/+12Your comment makes me think that you have no idea why you commented.
  • Tanelorn, on 04/19/2009, -1/+13Why do pharmaceutical companies spend massive amounts of money on lobbying? It's because government is an enabler for market abuse.
  • jbnumba1, on 04/19/2009, -0/+12Yeah, isn't it a little suspicious that the natural plant cannabis is schedule I and yet the Big Pharma patented Marinol is schedule III?
  • dancantone, on 04/19/2009, -2/+14All taken WAAY out of context...it's not the common life saving drugs, it's the exotic restless leg medicines and BS this and that ailments with these wild side effects like "Head may pop off or liver fall out of your ass while driving" type side effects that they don't care about the average consumer only profit margins!

    Get it straight...
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