Releasing Research Results

Here is more on the cholesterol mysteries from the NY Times.To pick up a thread from my last post, a troubling factor is the manipulation of research results by the pharmaceutical companies.Apparently, contrary to custom, the company involved released the research results via press release and considerable time had gone by between when the study was finished and when the results were released.I don’t know if any wrongdoing was involved, but the news that drug companies are fooling around with research results is becoming steady fare in the media. Vioxx, the recent controversy over the diabetes drug and on it goes. Since the companies are in the business of making money and not social welfare, the question is to what extent should the country be dependent on them to guide health policy.Since cutting in research and development in healthcare has been the steady tendency in healthcare. Nature magazine, perhaps one of the most prestigious popular periodicals about science lambasted the current administration as did other news sources.