the list…

Posted on Wednesday 4 May 2011

I don’t know Dr. Maurizio Fava or anything about him other than he’s at Mass General and his name in embeded in the author lists of STAR*D. So I’m using him as a straw man simply because of his conflict of interest declaration on the recent CO-MED publication. In the ProPublica Dollars for Docs Database, the recorded amount is trivial compared to some of his peers. So my comments are just about that list tabulated below. The companies that have been involved with the drugs in the CO-MED study are highlighted in red

Maurizio Fava, M.D.
PubMed=345, ClinicalTrials=14


research support


adviser or consultant


speaking or publishing fees


Abbott
Alkermes
Aspect Medical Systems
AstraZeneca
BioResearch
BrainCells
Bristol-Myers Squibb
CeNeRx BioPharma
Cephalon
Clinical Trials Solutions
Clintara
Covidien
Eli Lilly
EnVivo
Euthymics Bioscience
Forest
Ganeden Biotech
GlaxoSmithKline
Icon Clinical Research
i3 Innovus/Ingenix
Johnson & Johnson
Lichtwer
Lorex
NARSAD
the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
the National Institute on Drug Abuse
NIMH
Novartis
Organon
Pamlab
Pfizer
Pharmavite
Photothera
RCT Logic
Roche
Sanofi-Aventis
Shire
Solvay
Synthelabo
Wyeth
Abbott
Affectis
Alkermes
Amarin
Aspect Medical Systems
AstraZeneca
Auspex
Bayer
Best Practice Project Management
BioMarin
Biovail
BrainCells
Bristol-Myers Squibb
CeNeRx BioPharma
Cephalon
Clinical Trials Solutions
CNS Response
Compellis
Cypress
DiagnoSearch Life Sciences
Dinippon Sumitomo
DOV
Edgemont
Eisai
Eli Lilly
ePharmaSolutions
EPIX
Euthymics Bioscience
Fabre-Kramer
Forest
GenOmind
GlaxoSmithKline
Grunenthal
i3 Innovus/Ingenix
Janssen
Jazz
Johnson & Johnson
Knoll
Labopharm
Lorex
Lundbeck
MedAvante
Merck
MSI Methylation Sciences
Naurex
Neuronetics
NextWave
Novartis
Nutrition 21
Orexigen
Organon
Otsuka
Pamlab
Pfizer
PharmaStar
Pharmavite
PharmoRx
Precision Human Biolaboratory
Prexa
PsychoGenics
Psylin Neurosciences
Puretech Ventures
RCT Logic
Rexahn
Ridge Diagnostics
Roche
Sanofi-Aventis
Schering-Plough
Sepracor
Servier
Solvay
Somaxon
Somerset
Sunovion
Synthelabo
Takeda
Tal Medical
Tetragenex
Transcept
TransForm
Vanda
Adamed
Advanced Meeting Partners
the American Psychiatric Association
the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology
AstraZeneca
Belvoir Media Group
Boehringer Ingelheim
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Cephalon
CME Institute/Physicians Postgraduate Press
Eli Lilly
Forest
GlaxoSmithKline
Imedex
MGH Psychiatry Academy/Primedia
MGH Psychiatry Academy/Reed Elsevier
Novartis
Organon
Pfizer
PharmaStar
United BioSource
Wyeth


He owns stock in Compellis; he has a patent for SPCD; a patent application for a combination of azapirones and bupropion in major depressive disorder; and a patent for research and licensing of SPCD with RCT Logic and Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins; he receives copyright royalties for the MGH CPFQ, SFI, ATRQ, DESS, and SAFER.

I can think of no way to justify allowing someone with this kind of conflict of interest declaration to be an author of a scientific paper, particularly a study with an array of drugs each still under patent whose manufacturing history is among his list of conflicts [Wellbutrin SR, Lexapro, Effexor XR, Remeron]. CO-MED was an NIMH funded study [Dr. Fava is P.I. on NIMH Grants worth $10.5 M since 2000]. He is one of fifteen authors listed on this study. In the PubMed Database, of the 345 articles with Dr. Fava listed as author, 72 mention STAR*D and 47 have STAR*D in the title.There are no articles where Dr. Fava is either a First Author or a Last Author.

This kind of résumé padding and industry affiliation is incompatible with even the possibility of assuming an academic enterprise with any scientific integrity. He might be the brightest lamp on the Harvard Square, but these conflicts of interest negate the glow.
  1.  
    May 4, 2011 | 8:23 PM
     

    He may not be as conflicted as his other co-authors with regard to income

    http://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/search?term=Michael+Thase&state%5Bid%5D=

    But it’s the company you keep that reflects…

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8792754?dopt=Abstract

    Michael Thase… just an example

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