This letter, by bioethicist Mark Wilson, has been published in the current BMJ:
The letter begins:
“The mesh scandal is all too familiar. It joins a growing list of scandals where commercial conflicts of interest (COIs) and effective marketing of a defective product have led to serious injury and loss of life. Against the backdrop of Avandia, Vioxx, Praxil, the opioid crisis, and now the mesh scandal, one wonders what kind of tipping point is needed to prevent a disturbing pattern from repeating itself. And where will the leadership come from, given that sectors of the medical community are enmeshed with private industry?”
Mark Wilson goes on to outline how the passing of a Sunshine Act in the USA, on its own, has not solved the problem. I share in this conclusion. However, I still campaign for Sunshine legislation in the UK as a necessary first step, without which the scale of industry-biased medicine will remain hidden.
This is why I have written to all the UK Royal Colleges and other organisations involved in medical education asking if they support sunshine legislation or not.
Sunshine legislation is a means towards an ideal where science is not determined by money.
