In a highly charged environment in which reports of potential conflicts of interest between physicians and pharmaceutical companies dominate the headlines almost daily, we want to point out that the supplements that were mailed with this month’s issue of Psychiatric Times were based on meetings funded by drug companies. The supplement on treatment-resistant depression, which was sponsored by Lilly USA,includes an article that focuses on the company’s drug Symbyax.
As clearly noted in that supplement on treatment resistance, the contents are based on a symposium that Lilly funded in 2007. And, as noted on page 1, the standard peer review by the editorial board of Psychiatric Times was bypassed. The members of the editorial board of Psychiatric Times had no editorial oversight of the content. The same is true for the supplements on ADHD, anxiety and comorbid depression, and schizophrenia versus schizoaffective disorder.
Our new feature—Pharmonitor— offers readers a forum for critical review of any articles or supplements that appear to reflect a bias or selective presentation of the data, whatever the direction of that bias. We encourage readers to provide us with critical feedback in cases of apparent bias, and we will provide our readers with further details regarding our enhanced editorial review procedures for supplements to Psychiatric Times.
