Are the chinese really taking over drug companies?

Stephen Stahl, whose Essential psychopharmacology book now has his name in the title, has a post on his NEI (Neuroscience Education Institute) blog about drug company research. He mentions a crisis meeting at the Royal Society of Medicine this month, which he says he will report on when he gets back. I look forward to hearing more.

He regrets that "Nobody likes drug companies these days". I don't think he's helping their press by seeming to support drug company sponsorship of medical education and illegal marketing of their drugs. At least he admits that half of prescribing in psychiatry is "off label".

Nor is his case helped by misrepresentation of those who express concern about these practices as believers in psychiatric illnesses being "pure inventions of Pharma". As I've pointed out in a previous post, there's no need to be defensive if pharmaceutical companies really are pulling out of psychiatric research.


(With thanks to a post on Carlat Psychiatry Blog).