The CMA1 and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada2 both have guidelines restricting relationships between physicians and industry. These include specific admonitions against receiving gifts.
In its Sept. 30, 2003, issue, CMAJ published a news article containing criticisms of oxycodone (OxyContin) because of its highly addictive nature and describing legal actions being taken against the manufacturer.3 In the same issue, and in a much more prominent space, CMAJ sold a full-page colour ad promoting OxyContin for the treatment of chronic pain.
The usual tired caveats in the journal's defence will be invoked: that the prescribing physician is ultimately responsible for obtaining, synthesizing and interpreting the medical literature related to a treatment decision. It seems to me, though, that CMAJ has gone beyond mere hypocrisy to a new level of mercenary greed. While the CMA admonishes physicians against having truck with nefarious pharmaceutical types, CMAJ is lining its pockets with money from a company selling a drug that has introduced a new level of misery — addiction — into the lives of patients with chronic pain.
Michael Jacka Department of Anesthesia Division of Critical Care University of Alberta Edmonton, Alta.
Footnotes
-
Competing interests: None declared.