Steph, have you heard about that new book that just came out, exposing all the sketchy research in the pharmaceutical industry?

I have the writer on my twitter feed, he's Ben Goldacre, and it's called Bad Pharma.

I'm going to have to read that, definitely.

Actually I have wondered on occasion who funds the drug studies that aren't funded by the manufacturer. The FDA?

Mostly universities, I think.

Universities do the research, but it's mostly federal money, no?

You know, I knew that researchers get "grants," but I honestly didn't think about the source of the grants that aren't funded by the drug manufacturer.

I have to do math now to remember my age. At some point it stops being an essential part of your identity, I guess.

Tim always asks me how old he is, because he can't remember. I try not to point out that that's a bad sign. (And then, the other day, he was filling out a form online for an event we're going to and he had to put my name in. So he spells out S-T-E-P-H-A-N... and stops, looks at me, and asks, "...Y?" And all I could do was say, "Really? REALLY?!?")

OMG HOW DID I GET IN THIS ROOM?

Sheer awesomeness.

I don't want or need the drama of pointing out "YOUR FAULT, BITCA", so I'll just be petty and vent it here.

I would be unable to resist saying "It's a shame the children weren't vaccinated. I hope they don't have any young siblings that whooping cough can kill."

And frankly, if the parents are antivax AND vegan AND no sugar AND no gluten, it's unlikely that their kids' dietary rules will follow any logical or commonly accepted definitions of the words "vegan" "gluten-free" or "sugar-free."

I believe you're reduced to raw organic carrots.

Lighthouse! *sob*

You all sound young to me. Perhaps I should go out and whack someone with a cane.

Perhaps I should go out and whack someone with a cane.

I'll balance you with my own cane.

I'm 56, so my cane is the biggest.

My cane is two years' bigger.

Actually I have wondered on occasion who funds the drug studies that aren't funded by the manufacturer. The FDA?

The FDA requires the drug companies to do certain studies, but doesn't fund them. Basically the manufacturer goes to the FDA before human testing, and says "Here's the results! We want to test humans!" and the FDA says OK or not. And then after that, between testing healthy people, and testing lots of people, they meet with the FDA a few more times to say "This is the results! This is what we plan to test next" and sometimes the FDA says "OK" and sometimes they say "Actually, we also want you to do some tests with people who are on your drug and on (something elese)" or "also add in some neurological tests to make sure your drug doesn't do what (other drug) does" etc.

Most non-industry drug studies are...incredibly smaller. And are funded by things like the NIH, the National Cancer Institute or suchlike, or associations. But often those are just working WITH drug companies on drugs they might otherwise not be able to study, or in ways they might not otherwise.

I have that book in my queue, but I have to say, having worked on the research side (including a LOT of studies that didn't work!), I think the corrupt and icky parts are less the research, and more the "OK, what are we going to develop? Possible new drug that would cost $40 million to do and might not work? Or could we just do some studies to see if our already-approved depression drug also works for bipolar?" or "Hey, let's make more money by pointing out that if we separate our good compound into two, because it's only one form of it that works, we can charge extra and extend our patent life!" and then the sales side ("Well, we haven't actually done STUDIES on migraine, but I'm just saying a lot of doctors prescribe off-label, hint hint" which some companies have gotten in big trouble for).

My first reaction on seeing those lighthouse photos was "holy SHIT!" And I almost never curse out loud anymore.

Thanks for the info on funding, meara.

But the one problem is: the Pharm companies will fund multiple studies with the agreement that the data and the studies can only be released with their permission. So if two studies find no problem and 4 find a problem only the two get released. There are other problems too.

Most non-industry drug studies are...incredibly smaller.

Yeah, and then the results aren't generalizable to the larger population.

Or could we just do some studies to see if our already-approved depression drug also works for bipolar?

Or my favorite, "Hey, this guy was taking a drug for angina and he STARTED TO GROW HAIR! Perhaps we can market the bejesus out of this!"

Or my favorite, "Hey, this guy was taking a drug for angina and he STARTED TO GROW HAIR! Perhaps we can market the bejesus out of this!"

Hahaha! And that's totally part of why my job exists too. I'm supposed to review the medical records of people on a study, and confirm that they're reporting all side effects. So, be that "I get headaches on this drug" or "I grew more hair!" or whatever...good and bad. :)