Nonprofit Research Less Likely to Favor New Treatments
Study published in AMA Journal shows that who pays still has an effect on outcomes in cardiovascular medicine.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer relays results of a study of 324 trials done by Paul M Ridker, MD and Jose Torres published in the AMA Journal (you can read the abstract without a subscription).
If a nonprofit organization funded the trial, it was about equally likely to favor or not favor new treatment. If a for-profit organization funded the study, two out of three favored the newer treatment. A similar patterns emerged for both drug and medical device trials.
A fascinating additional finding: trials with joint funding by nonprofit and for-profit organizations fell between the two percentages. So either the nonprofits instilled a conscience in the for-profits or the for-profits corrupted the nonprofits (a non-scientific interpretation).
| Percent favoring newer treatment over standard of care | |||
| Funding: | Nonprofit | Joint funding | For-profit |
| All treatments | 49% | 57% | 67% |
| Drugs | 40% | 54% | 66% |
| Medical devices | 50% | 69% | 82% |
Dr. Ridker is associated with Brigham and Women's Hospital (EIN 04-2312909 Form 990) and Harvard Medical School (EIN 04-2103580 Form 990) JAMA is pubished by the American Medical Association (EIN 36-0727175 Form 990).
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