Pharmaceutical Industry Is No Stranger to “Product Defense”

The food industry is no stranger to fake news, either.

“An entire industry called “product defense,” created years ago by the tobacco industry, uses falsehoods and misdirection to protect companies from bad media and regulatory scrutiny. The pharmaceutical industry is no stranger to these tactics.”

“As a way to defend industry from government regulation, corporate advocates routinely referred to studies published in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, the official journal of the International Society of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. On the journal’s website, I was somehow admitted to the society’s member’s only section. While scanning the minutes of its meetings, I noted that they were held in the offices of a law firm that defended companies from scrutiny by the FDA. Many members of the journal’s board had strong ties to the tobacco, pharmaceutical, and agrochemical industry. Indeed, a recent study of the journal called into question the many dubious papers it has published on tobacco.”

For full article: https://www.statnews.com/2018/01/30/pharmaceutical-industry-fake-news-tobacco/