The next target on IMAP's radar screen: patient advocacy groups, many of which receive all or nearly all of their funding from the drug, biotechnology or medical device companies. "We're going to address these patient advocacy groups, some of which are grass roots and some of which are astroturf," Rothman said.
Patient Advocacy groups need to be alerted that this very effective strategy as seen with Academic Medical Centers (Brennan paper 2006, followed by AAMC Taskforce 2008, followed by major reforms 2009), and now Medical Specialty Societies is a model that is working for IMAP. This will be used against them.
They want to cause shame for doing the right thing (working with industry to develop new products that saves lives) even if it costs more in the short run.
This Strategy should be exposed for what it really is, short sighted contempt. Medical Societies, Academic Medical Centers and Patient Groups need to stand up against this bullying tactic; otherwise as a society we will all suffer the consequences of a lost medical research and education base.
Tom Sullivan is too kind. This is intellectual fascist. Rothman represents a point of view that is toxic to the public health, that all "science" must be cleansed of the biases and viewpoints he and his fascist friends regard as the absoute truth. The Jerry Avorns, Marcia Angells, Rothmans, etc inevitably endorse any conclusions that fit their ideology and refuse to subject their assertions to the scientific method. ( It is the very reason that the comparative effectiveness crowd relies on a rigged approach to evaluation: selecting only randomized trials with exclusion criteria that fail to control for variation in treatment effect and using meta-analyses to reach conclusions instead of generating hypothesis so as to reinforce the initial weakness of underpowered randomized trials. All conclusions will show no difference in benefit among competing therapies... )
To assert that patient groups are somehow "fake" because they receive industry funding raises the question of who made Rothman and George Soros the gold standard of probity? The ultimate measure of any individual or organization is the merit of their position, the contribution of their effort. Does receipt of money from a currency wrecker, who has spent money to weaken the state of Israel (Soros), who himself invests billions in biotech and drug companies, qualify for knighthood compared to receiving support from companies that commercialize medical knowledge, invest in scientific research, give away billions in free medicines. Soros -- and by extension -- Rothman and Blumenthal have profited from the profits of drug companies...
If Rothman succeeds in his campaign of intimidation it will not "purify" medicine and thereby improve the quality of care. There is no evidence of this cause and effect. On the contrary there is no scientific evidence to support this assertion. Meanwhile other countries and health systems are increasing the amount of collaboration with direct subsidies, increase patent opportunities, etc in order to promote innovation and retain scientific talent.
Rothman and his ilk are angy elites who should be shunned and attacked by the patient groups. Once the patient groups are silenced then advocacy for faster cures will die. What will happen next is fairly obvious. Soros, who stood by without feeling as Nazis confiscated the property of Jews, has picked his associates well.
