Medical journals influential in promoting — or destroying — new drugs should not be trusted because research once considered independent is now paid for by the pharmaceutical industry, according to the former editor of one of the nation’s top journals.
“Yeah, it used to be that way,” said former New England Journal of Medicine Editor Dr. Marcia Angell. But, she added, “it began to change as the pharmaceutical industry became richer, more powerful, more influential, and began to take over the sponsorship of probably most clinical research now.”