What Doctors Don't Tell YouThe drug manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb has been taken to task by The Lancet, the medical journal, for attempting to stop an independent trial into one of its drugs.
The company claims that the evidence is overwhelming that its drug, Taxol, can help women with ovarian cancer, and so it is “unethical” to continue a trial where two thirds of patients are denied treatment.
One national newspaper has been swept along by the company’s campaign and has already run a story that claims Taxol works.
Researchers from the International Collaboration on Ovarian Neoplasm study, ICON3, believe it is important for the trial to continue as previous evidence had been based on small groups (Lancet, 1997; 349: 1635).
Maryon Stewart
Daniel Redwood DC
Tom Ferguson MD