Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
I was once told(by a researcher who worked for Astra Zeneca in Altrincham) to be wary of research, and to ask some probing questions.....like who commissioned and paid for the reasearch?
Were the researchers truly independent with no links to the drug being researched?
What was the criteria for inclusion into the research program?
What data was collected and collated...and how was it analysed?
Prior to this I had been inclined to take research on face value.
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The Cochrane Collaboration study had this to say...
It is now known that industry funding of influenza vaccines studies determines publication in high prestige journals and higher citation rates than other types of funding. In addition industry funding is associated with optimistic conclusions, but the quality of the majority of influenza vaccines studies is low, irrespective of funding. A previously cited review showed a complex web of interrelationships between these variables http://www.bmj.com/content/338/bmj.b354, but how this impacts on policy making is unknown.