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RESEARCH

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES ACCUSED OF STIFLING

QUOTABLE

"IT SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING.

IT SHOULDN'T BE PERMITTED BY INSTITUTIONS."

DR.DOUGLAS

KINSELLA

ROBERT WALKER

GALGARY HERALD

Tuesday February 29 2000

Galgary and other Alberta researchers are concerned multi-national pharmaceutical companies are stifling scientific research in Canada that does not support their products.

Dr. David Hailey, senior adviser at the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, said not all results of applied medical research are beeing released to public.

"Some companies appear to be ready to stifle scientific discussion by turning to the courts, seeking injonctions to prevent the release reports or threatening researches with legal action, " he wrote in a recent issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Dr. Douglas Kinsella, professor of medecine in the University of Galgary office of bioetnics, agree harassment should be founght.

"It shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't be permitted by institutions."

Pharmaceutical companies often decline to provide to the public the reports that support the use of their proucts, even though they were originally submitted to Health Canada to approval for the drug, said Kinsella, past president of the Canadian Bioethics Society.

He believes Health Canada should insist that research supporting a drug is published so the academic community can make its own assessment of the claims being made for new drugs.

Kinsella referred to the headlined case last year of University of Toronto researcher Nancy Olivieri, who has threatened with legal action by Canadian drug maker Apotex Inc. For going public with negative results from drug trials.

The issue was eventually resolved after a long fight, Olivieri was awarded $150,000 for legal fees and got to keep her job.

"There was a lack of institutional support for her, with a clear bias favour of the pharmaceutical firm in that confrontation, " said Kinsella.

University of Calgary lw professor Dr. Crist Levy said it's important that all research findings are made public.

But he fears that if Calgary or Canada try to take multinational drug companies on their own, the corporations will simply pull their research out of Calgary or their business out of Canada.

But international cooperation can help erode the power of pharmaceutical companies, Levy said.

He pointed out that it's already happening in some areas of scientific research.

Now it needs to move toward compelling giant drug companies to publish all research.

And he'd like to se the Medical Research Council standing commited on ethics look at the issue, and develop standard clauses in research agreements protecting researchers from harassment and guaranteeing publication of results.

The University of Calgary has 300 researchers and is hoping to increase that number to 450.

Don Sancton, director of corporate affairs for Pfiser Canada, agreed legal challenges should be a last resort, and said industry should be encouraged to use scientidic channel to challenge opinions it regards as unsound or unfair.

"In general the system works very well. Results of trials are beeing published and are provided to the Health Canada for its rewiew of our products," said Sancton.

He didn't have any information on studies not beeing published or suppressed.

Sancton said pharmaceutical companies are responsable for the bulk of research in Canada and the majority of innovative discoveries.

ROBERT WALKER

GALGARY HERALD