JAMA and New York Times story regarding bias in reports on drug benefits.

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

Today's JAMA and New York Times story regarding bias in reports on drug benefits.

 Jamie


http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v282n18/full/jsc90228.html

Problems in the Design and Reporting of Trials of Antifungal Agents Encountered During Meta-analysis  
Helle Krogh Johansen, MD, DMSc ; Peter C. Gøtzsche, MD, DMSc 


http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/health/111099hth-drugs-effect.html

Medical Journal Cites Misleading Drug Research

Nov 10, 199
         By DENISE GRADY

Reports of research on drugs tend to exaggerate the drugs' benefits, making them sound better than they really are, according to an article and editorial being published
Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association. 

The exaggeration occurs for several reasons: positive results tend to be published more often than negative ones, researchers sometimes publish the same study more than
once and some poorly designed studies slip through the safety net of journal editors and expert reviewers who should screen them out. 

   [snip]

-- 
James Love / Director, Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org / love@cptech.org
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
voice 202.387.8030 / fax 202.234.5176