We are pleased to announce the debut of AlzheimerVideoNews.com, an ongoing critical look at the most important news in Alzheimer research.
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AlzheimerVideoNews.com is sponsored by the Institute for Neurological Research (INR®), a private medical group, inc. in Los Angeles, the developer of a patented new approach to Alzheimer’s disease treatment, perispinal etanercept.
On an ongoing basis AlzheimerVideoNews.com will report and analyze the most important developments in Alzheimer research, while providing a fresh perspective on this news. AlzheimerVideoNews.com is neither supported nor connected with any of the pharmaceutical companies, and produces its reports without influence from the pharmaceutical industry.
During the year reports on the pharmaceutical industry’s influence on academic researchers are planned, an area of increasing concern which is presently being researched by Senator Charles Grassley, and others.
The widespread conflicts of interest in drug research have been receiving increasing scrutiny in scientific journals, much to the benefit of the public, with calls for increasing safeguards[1-3]. Accountability and transparency of the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on university researchers can only help to advance science and medicine[4].
This is also critically important with regard to NIH oversight of conflicts of interest among those university researchers who receive NIH grants for their research, also as pointed out by Senator Grassley[5, 6].
Finally, the conflicts of interest of those who review articles for scientific journals must be declared and remain transparent, and should be sought by the press when asking for expert commentary on scientific studies[7]. Only then will the public have access to expert, unbiased information.
The field of Alzheimer research has only just begun to break out of the strangehold produced by a single-minded concentration on the yet to be proven “amyloid plague hypothesis”[8-10]. The exciting news is that in 2008 several therapeutic agents, including Dimebon®, Rember®, and etanercept, all of which act on new therapeutic targets, have shown promising results.
AlzheimerVideoNews.com will continue to provide a fresh perspective on these new developments, with extensive links to further information from additional sources. Please bookmark our page and visit us often for the latest developments in Alzheimer research.
Copyright © 2008 AlzheimerVideoNews.com All rights reserved
1. Rothman, D.J., Academic medical centers and financial conflicts of interest. Jama, 2008. 299(6): p. 695-7.
2. Ehringhaus, S.H., J.S. Weissman, J.L. Sears, S.D. Goold, S.
Feibelmann, and E.G. Campbell, Responses of medical schools to
institutional conflicts of interest. Jama, 2008. 299(6): p. 665-71.
3. Schetky, D.H., Conflicts of interest between physicians and the
pharmaceutical industry and special interest groups. Child Adolesc
Psychiatr Clin N Am, 2008. 17(1): p. 113-25, ix-x.
4. Snyder, G.P., E.B. Ferretti, N.K. Wenger, J.E. Strobeck, M.A.
Silver, J.R. Sowers, M.M. Engler, E.A. Amsterdam, S.L. Weinberg, L.C.
Parish, and M. Moser, Accountability and transparency in medical
publishing: position and policies of le jacq on authorship,
acknowledgments, conflicts of interest, and secondary and redundant
publication. Am Heart Hosp J, 2008. 6(1): p. 5-8.
5. Tanne, J.H., NIH needs to raise oversight of conflicts of
interest among researchers, report says. Bmj, 2008. 336(7638): p. 235.
6. NIH in the dark over conflicts of interest. Nature, 2008. 451(7177): p. 386.
7. Murphy, E.J., The need for the persons involved as reviewers in
the peer-review system to disclose potential conflicts of interest
regarding the manuscript or the authors. Lipids, 2008. 43(2): p. 105-6.
8. Lee, H.G., G. Casadesus, X. Zhu, A. Takeda, G. Perry, and M.A.
Smith, Challenging the amyloid cascade hypothesis: senile plaques and
amyloid-beta as protective adaptations to Alzheimer disease. Ann N Y
Acad Sci, 2004. 1019: p. 1-4.
9. Begley, S., Scientists World-Wide Battle a Narrow View of
Alzheimer's Cause. Wall Street Journal, 2004. 16 April 2004: p. A.9.
10. Begley, S., Is Alzheimer's Field Blocking Research Into Other Causes? Wall Street Journal, 2004. 9 April 2004: p. B.1.
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