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| Lyme Disease is commonly misspelled or called
Lime Disease, Limes Disease, Lyme's Disease, Lymes Disease |
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Lyme Disease symptoms vary from person to person. (lymes disease lyme's disease lime disease limes disease)
The data and information presented in this web site are presented in good faith and believed to be accurate regarding Lyme disease (commonly misspelled lymes disease lyme's disease lime disease limes disease) and other related diseases. Any and all liability for the content or any omissions including any inaccuracies, errors, or misstatements in such data or information is expressly disclaimed. The web site is compiled for the sole purpose of informing community members of resources and information pertaining to Lyme Borreliosis Disease and its coinfections. Lyme disease symptoms may vary from person to person.
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Consult a qualified Lyme ( Borreliosis ) Disease literate doctor for medical advice if Lyme Disease is suspect to discuss your Lyme Disease Symptoms.
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We in the Lyme community understand very well the influence of very powerful corporations ie. medical insurers/pharmaceutical/vaccine manufacturers and the damage done in setting guidelines. This may explain the IDSA guidelines for treating & diagnosis of Lyme.
"Guideline writers have stakes in drug firms
report: Pharmaceutical companies see chance to exert influence
Margaret Munro
CanWest News Service
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Academics and physicians who write the guidelines on how to prescribe drugs have extensive financial connections with the pharmaceutical industry, according to a report published today in the journal Nature.
In one case, every doctor on a committee setting rules for a treatment of HIV patients had been paid by the U.S. company responsible for the drug that was ultimately recommended, according to the report, which looked at more than 200 guidelines from around the world.
In other cases, doctors owned stocks in the companies whose products were being considered.
Practice guidelines are designed to help doctors and other clinicians with the diagnosis and treatment of everything from heart disease to arthritis. They can have a huge impact on the use of billions of dollars worth of drugs used in the world each year.
The Nature survey found more than a third of guideline authors declared financial links to relevant drug companies, with nearly 70% of guideline-writing panels affected.
"The numbers in the survey are distressing," Dr. Drummond Rennie, deputy editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, says in the Nature report. "Drug company sponsors see guideline-issuing bodies as perfect places to exert influence. The practice stinks."
Canadian Medical Association Journal editor Dr. John Hoey agrees.
"This is not right. This is not the way to come up with the recommendations for the public," Dr. Hoey said in an interview.
Canadian guidelines are often written by doctors with extensive ties to the drug industry, says Dr. Hoey. Production of the guidelines is often supported by grants from the pharmaceutical industry.
The guidelines are typically published in medical journals, including the CMAJ, or disseminated by specialized disease groups, such as the Canadian Diabetes Association, which also have close ties with the pharmaceutical industry.
Dr. Hoey says plenty of evidence shows doctors with ties to the industry make recommendations that favour the companies and their products. "It is a real problem," Dr. Hoey said.
But he says the practice is so widespread and entrenched there is no easy solution.
People have argued for years there needs to be better disclosure of the conflicts, and steps have been taken in that direction. Medical and research journals routinely require doctors and investigators to disclose their "competing interests" in the fine print at the bottom of research papers and guidelines.
But Dr. Hoey says disclosure is not enough. He says the guidelines should be written by physicians with no financial ties whatsoever to companies whose products will be impacted by guidelines.
He also says production of guidelines should be publicly funded. Apart from the pubic interest in promoting appropriate drug use, he says provincial and federal governments have huge financial interests in how drugs are used and promoted.
"How the public funding gets set up and how it is operationalized is the challenge," said Dr. Hoey."
© National Post 2005
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