News tagged with 'Harvard'

Georgetown University discussed the potential for a conflict-of-interest between doctors and pharmaceutical companies that partially fund continuing-education for doctors.

Steroids such as testosterone are used by weight lifters to improve muscle mass. They are also causing heart disease and dysfunction say researchers.

A nonprofit representing 32 medical societies has released a new code of ethics that stresses disclosure of financial conflicts from drug and device makers by doctors and medical journalists.

Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, is deficient in at least six million U.S. children, reports this study from Harvard and published in the journal Pediatrics. Given its increasing recognition in health maintenance, the study author says this should be a call to action.

Universities are often not told about the money their academics receive from device makers as consultants and product developers.

Alzheimer's disease cases are soaring at a rapid pace. By next year, a predicted 35.6 million around the world will suffer, which represents a 10 percent increase in four year. If the pace continues, the numbers of those with Alzheimer’s will double every 20 years. The U.S. still has no national plan, as many European countries do.

Three new genes have been found to be associated with Alzheimer's disease, however gene research has so far yielding nothing more than drugs to delay symptoms of the disease. The cause and cure are still elusive and controversial.

Amid embarassing revelations that members of the American Psychiatric Association have taken and not revealed drug industry funding, the APA says it will shun sponsored symposia and meals - it just doesn't say when.

The deposition of Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman, shows that he promises Johnson & Johnson executives positive results of a clinical trial on an antipsychotic, before the study even took place.

Pfizer plans to become the first drugmaker to disclose on its web site the lucrative payments it makes to doctors who promote and research its drugs. The move is intended to promote transparency and regain the trust of the public after revelations that some academics on the take were not disclosing the relationship.

After the public embarassment at Harvard Medical School concerning faculty on the receiving end of lucrative consulting fees, the school and its teaching facilities are revisiting and revising conflict-of-interest policies.  

David Sinclair is a Harvard researcher who works in the area of anti-aging.  He resigned from his advisory position with the Shaklee company after the WSJ began uncovering his financial arrangement over the supplement, Vivix, reportedly, "The world’s best anti-aging supplement.”

Dr. Joseph Biederman, the father of child psychiatry, is suspended from participating in clinical trials while Harvard University and its teaching hospital, Massachusetts General, probe his conflicting interests with the pharmaceutical industry. At issue - why he failed to report $1.6 million from Big Pharma while his work with children promoted drug use. 

More information is surfacing about conflicting interests involving a Harvard psychiatrist, renowned for promoting antipsychotics, and the research center that bears the name of Johnson & Johnson, which he heads.