[e-drug] Therapeutics Initiative in trouble: Assessment program under attack (2)

["Joana Ramos" <jdr@ramoslink.info>]

E-DRUG: Therapeutics Initiative in trouble: Assessment program under attack (2)
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On behalf of Healthy Skepticism I am sharing here a letter sent to 
British Columbia's Minister of Health George Abbott protesting the 
recent recommendation that the Therapeutics Initiative (TI) be replaced. 
The recommendation was made by a special task force charged with 
examining the process by which drugs are approved coverage in the 
province's NHS Pharmacare formulary. The Therapeutics Initiative is one 
of very few independent drug-evaluation services; healthworkers 
worldwide have come to rely on its evidence-based studies as a key 
information resource. After the announcement of the task force's 
recommendation to replace TI was made, it was learned that 5 of the 9 
task force members have ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Letters from other concerned organizations and individuals to Min. 
Abbott can be sent to Minister Abbott at: :
george.abbott.mla@leg.bc.ca

Therapeutics Initiative website: http://www.ti.ubc.ca/en/AboutUs
For more background on this issue, please see:

Independent drug watchdog in Canada under funding threat
BMJ 7 June 2008
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/reprint/336/7656/1270-a

and

British Columbia and its "Bizarre" Task Force Report
Pharmalot May 23, 2008
http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/05/british-columbia-and-its-bizarre-task-force-report/

Sincerely,

Joana Ramos
Healthy Skepticism Management Group
www.healthyskepticism.org

----------- letter- from Healthy Skepticism ---------------

The Honourable George Abbott MLA
Minister of Health
Room 337, Parliament Buildings
Victoria BC V8V 1X4

May 26, 2008

Re: the Pharmaceutical Task Force’s assessment of the Therapeutics 
Initiative

Dear Minister:

I write to you as chair of Healthy Skepticism 
(www.healthyskepticism.org), and as a clinician who was a visiting 
scientist at the Therapeutics Initiative in 2007. I was disturbed to 
read that your Pharmaceutical Task Force recommends replacing the 
Therapeutics Initiative.

The international reputation of Therapeutics Initiative is strong. 
Therapeutics Initiative is amongst only a handful of organizations 
worldwide that can be relied upon to independently review the evidence 
on pharmaceuticals, and is source of information for healthcare 
professionals and scientific editors. Its skilled, experienced staff are 
subject to rigorous editorial methods, allowing them to serve the public 
interest. For example, Therapeutics Initiative warned healthcare 
professionals early about the unfavorable harm-benefit balance for 
rofecoxib, thereby reducing the harm done by that drug.

Unfortunately it seems that the fact that five of the nine members of 
the Pharmaceutical Task Force have ties with the pharmaceutical industry 
has played a part in the recommendation to replace Therapeutics 
Initiative. I urge you to reject the advice from this conflicted Task 
Force and to ensure that Therapeutics Initiative is funded to continue 
its work independent of commercial influence.

Yours sincerely

Jon Jureidini (on behalf of Healthy Skepticism)

Jon Jureidini PhD MBBS FRANZCP
Head, Department of Psychological Medicine
Children’s Youth and Women’s Health Service
Associate Professor
Disciplines of Psychiatry & Paediatrics, University of Adelaide
Senior Research Fellow
Department of Philosophy, Flinders University of South Australia
-----------------------------
Joana Ramos, MSW
Cancer Resources & Advocacy
Seattle WA USA
+1-206-229-2420
http://ramoslink.info/
www.bmtbasics.org
www.healthyskepticism.org
Joana Ramos <jdr@ramoslink.info>