A new study published in BMJ Open finds that nearly all the authors (93%) of clinical practice guidelines (CPG) for bipolar and major depressive disorder in Japan received industry money from pharmaceutical companies.
The research, led by Anju Murayama of Tohoku University, calculated the median payment per author at $51,403. Higher payments were made to the CPG chairperson. These payments to CPG authors were made by pharmaceutical companies with new antidepressants and sleeping aids listed in the CPG. This means these authors received industry money and subsequently recommended industry products, representing a significant conflict of interest.
“The findings reveal that a large majority (93.3%) of CPG authors received personal payments for lecturing, consulting and writing, with a total sum of US$4.0 million between 2016 and 2020,” the authors write. “Nearly all authors involved in writing the CPGs self-reported financial COIs with pharmaceutical companies. Notably, the bulk of personal payments to CPG authors came from companies that manufacture antidepressants and sleeping pills in Japan.”
These kinds of payments, which a reasonable person may suspect are bribes, are common at every stage of drug development and prescription. This includes clinical trial design, the reporting of trial results, regulatory board approval, and the writing of prescriptions by physicians. Industry money has also been used to corrupt textbooks and medical education.
Taken altogether, this paints a picture of a corrupt industry pushing drugs without regard for any consequences to the consumer. This begs the question: if pharmaceutical industry products are truly useful in treating most psychological suffering, why do they find it necessary to corrupt clinical trials and make payments to regulatory board officials, CPG authors, and physicians to increase prescriptions?
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What the “psych” industries in the US have done is not nearly as “complex” as they like to proclaim. The “bipolar” diagnosis is a good example of this.
If one goes to a “psych professional,” (due, for example, for questioning “brain zaps,” which are a common symptom of withdrawal from the non-“safe smoking cessation meds” / antidepressants) and claims to not be depressed. Then the DSM “bible” billers just automatically “diagnoses” the person as “manic,” thus “bipolar” … as if there are only two states of being, which is ridiculous. The “bipolar diagnosis” itself is a “Catch 22.”
And how ironic, the “bad fix” on my broken bone doctor, did call himself “Dr. 22,” in my medical records.
Thank you for your research, ladies and gentlemen of Japan. Please don’t buy into, and work against, the “BS” and fraud of the Western “mental health” industries and big Pharma.
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