The study compared 10 Danish medical offices that were involved in an asthma medication trial sponsored by Danish drug maker AstraZeneca, with 165 offices that were not involved in the trial. Researchers found that the offices participating in the trial had a 6.7 percent increase in prescriptions for AstraZeneca drugs, while the control offices only experienced a 3 percent increase.
Alan Goldhammer, a representative of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), said that although there may have been bias toward AstraZeneca drugs, making a direct correlation between the trial's funding and doctors' prescribing practices would be difficult. "Our position is patients get the right medication for their disease and treatment guidelines for asthma are followed," Goldhammer said. The study's authors concluded that despite the increase in prescriptions for AstraZeneca products, the doctors involved in the trial did follow asthma treatment guidelines.
However, Dr. Bruce M. Psaty, who authored an editorial accompanying the study in JAMA, argued that the thousands of similar drug company-sponsored trials that regularly occur have an unclear scientific rationale. "My own bias is that the health of the public would be better served by fewer small trials and more long-term studies that fully address the health benefits and health risks of drugs," Psaty said.
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