Basically every(!) person who works in academia or R&D of pharma-companies knows that Big Pharma buys “patronizes” prominent academicians/researchers BUT it takes a noisy scandal in order this issues become sufficiently attractive for the big scientific media such as Nature:
According to the US complaint, GSK also lavished some doctors and academics with “sham consulting fees” and other payments, as well as gifts and attendance at luxury conferences in venues such as Bermuda and Jamaica — sometimes with sailing or deep-sea fishing thrown in — to encourage them to prescribe drugs for off-label uses (see go.nature.com/dbhkht). Speakers could earn $1,000–2,500 per hour to talk at promotional events, with some negotiating 'six packs' of $12,000-worth of talks over two days. One speaker earned about $1.5 million between 2001 and 2003. Nice work if you can get it — and too many could. Andrew Witty, chief executive of GSK, last week apologized for the company's past behaviour, but argued that since he took the helm in 2008, GSK has implemented deep reforms.
Well, the situation is pretty simple and it was easily deconstructed for a couple of months ago. After the scandal with GSK nothing will be changed... Unfortunately.
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