Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108742

Trudy Lieberman, BS, Director, Center for Consumer Health Choices, Consumers Union, 101 Truman Ave, Yonkers, NY 10703, 9143782513, trudyal530@aol.com

 Every day consumers are bombarded by television commercials urging them to ask their doctor about this drug or that.  These commercials stimulate consumer awareness of various medical conditions, some promoted by pharmaceutical marketers simply to sell more products.  But what do consumers in their role as patients really know about such drugs that may gain FDA approval on the basis of one clinical trial?  What can they really learn from a spokesperson paid by the drug maker to run the trial and who then hypes the results to journalists?  What should the media be telling consumers about these new drugs?  How is the public to read the signals, some obvious and some not so obvious, that are given in news accounts?   This session will explore those questions and examine the conflicts of interest and financial connections among drug makers, physicians and researchers who run clinical trials, and the clinicians who prescribe the medications.  It will also examine what obligation the media has to disclose such conflicts and report on risks as well as benefits of new pharmaceuticals.  The session will end with a template for public health practitioners to use in educating the public about new drugs.

Learning Objectives:

• Providers and consumers will learn how medical information on new treatments in the media and medical literature is distorted by sponsorship by the drug companies. They will learn how and when to look for conflicts of interest. Providers will gain information about how to make better informed customers of their patients.

Keywords: Research Ethics, Drug Use Review

Related Web page: www.consumersunion.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.