The Medical Research Industry

by Katie Delahaye Paine

As I boarded a plane in London last month, I was handed a copy of the Sunday Times of London. While waiting for that magic moment when I could turn my laptop back on I perused its pages and came across a headline that said, "Safe Ibuprofen May Carry Raised Breast Cancer Risk." I am a breast cancer survivor and a runner with chronic knee problems. I take ibuprofen for everything from hangovers to surgery. So I spent an agonizing 14 hours in the plane without an Internet connection, wondering if I'd been slowly poisoning my body all these years. When I landed, I immediately googled "ibuprofen" and found this contradictory headline from nationwide newspapers on April 10, 2003: "Risk of Breast Cancer Cut Sharply by Regular Ibuprofen."

I am fortunate enough to have an incredible doctor at Dana Farber named Eric Winer who spends a great deal of time looking into studies like this to figure out if his patients need to change their behaviors. I asked him about these ibuprofen results, and his advice was to sit tight and wait until the research checked out.

Turns out, his skepticism towards medical research findings is well-founded. A review was released recently showing that a third of major medical research studies of a drug or treatment published since 1990 have been subsequently found to have incorrect or exaggerated results. It really makes you wonder: If we can't trust medical research, then what research can we trust?

One major solution would be greater transparency about who is funding what studies. This article in the Columbia Journalism Review points out the insidious relationship between drug manufacturers, researchers and the media. The problem that the medical industry and pharmaceutical manufacturers in particular have is that public skepticism grows with every Vioxx crisis and every Sepracor scenario. Consumers and doctors alike are left confused, and the costs of maintaining our health go up.

Can the reputation of medical research be saved? Certainly: Shine a big bright spotlight on every research report and point out who got paid to do what. Release all results, not just the ones that support the PR story line or the marketing plan. And make sure that research conclusions are in fact correctly deduced before you write the headline.

Will all these factors fall neatly into place? Not likely. So take two aspirin and call us in the morning.