1 Boring Old Man

Tensions escalate in Lancet-Hickie row
The Australian Doctor
by David Brill
14 February, 2012

^{The row has escalated between Professor Ian Hickie and the Lancet, with Professor Hickie now calling on the journal’s ombudsman to step in. The fracas broke out after the journal published a series of letters, accusing the Sydney psychiatrist of “overstating” the efficacy and safety of a new antidepressant, and questioning his ties to the drug’s manufacturer. But it has since spilled out to the lay media, with Professor Hickie yesterday telling ABC radio and The Australian that he was the victim of a campaign to discredit him.}

He said he had corresponded with Dr Horton about the matter in confidence, and had not expected to see details emerge on Twitter. He called the tweeting a “cynical approach”, which was “clearly designed principally to attract media attention back to the Lancet.” “I would have thought the role of serious academic journals was to deal with these issues in a serious academic space,” Professor Hickie said. “I’d certainly like to see clarification of the whole editorial process, because our reputation has been slurred — not only in Australia, but our academic reputation has been slurred worldwide.” The letters to the journal had taken aim at an earlier review by Professor Hickie on the new class of melatonin-based antidepressants, notably agomelatine [Valdoxan].

He also noted that the Lancet had recently published another review, by prominent US psychiatrist David Kupfer, which drew similar conclusions on the efficacy and tolerability of agomelatine. However this article had not triggered the same dissent, despite describing the drug as a “promising alternative” for certain patients. Further comment was being sought by Australian Doctor from Dr Horton at the time of going to press.

 

I’m thinking Ian Hickie isn’t going to land on his feet this time. The bloggers are after him [Professor Ian Hickie – Visionary Mental Health Reformer or Paid Pharmaceutical Industry Opinion Leader?, Professor Hickie – Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Time for Ian Hickie to put up and shut up]. The newspapers are hardly rallying to his side. He’s using Dr. David Kupfer who is parroting his own article as a defense [Dr. David Kupfer leader of the DSM-5 Task Force, a STAR*D veteran, and an industry KOL extraordinaire]. Maybe he’ll get Dr. Horton to apologize for his candidness on Twitter. Maybe his friends will pat him on the head and say, "there, there." But after that review/commercial he wrote about Agomelatine, he’s going to have a hard time getting any real scientist to take him very seriously. And this petulant little outburst going on right now isn’t the kind of thing that will get him any points in the long run. He may succeed in intimidating future critics, but he’ll also find himself being avoided.

^{Hat Tip to Stephany}