This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Dr. Alain Beaudet and the Pharmaceutical Industy---what you need to know
by CCSVI in Multiple Sclerosis on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 7:33pm
Dear Canadian friends---
I believe it is of the utmost importance that you understand who is making health care decisions for you.
There are several things you need to know about the president of the CIHR---all of this information is public record.
Dr. Alain Beaudet, President ,†Canadian Institutes of Health Research †Ottawa, ON†
Here is some press about Dr. Beaudet's appointment:
"The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has named Montreal physician†Alain†Beaudet†as its new president, effective July 1st. †Beaudet†is currently president and CEO of the QuÈbec government's medical research funding agency, called Fonds de La Recherche en SantÈ QuÈbec, or FRSQ. He takes over for acting president Pierre Chartrand, who has been filling in since CIHR head Alan Bernstein resigned in October to serve as executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise.
Dr. Beaudet served as CEO of FRSQ--
Here is the website for FRSQ--the research funding agency that Beaudet worked for as CEO and President:
http://www.frsq.gouv.qc.ca/en/index.shtml
Note that Pfizer, the world's largest drug company (marketer of Rebif, maker of Neurontin, Zoloft, Lipitor) is one of the most important partners of the FRSQ--
http://www.frsq.gouv.qc.ca/en/financeme ... iche.shtml
http://www.frsq.gouv.qc.ca/en/financeme ... 2010.shtml
Managing of chronic illnesses is one area where research is funded by Pfizer
Here is a press release regarding the FRSQ working with pharma to help chronic pain--
Dr. Beaudet set up the first-ever collaboration between pharma and the Social Services Ministry.
"Two of Canada’s leading pharmaceutical companies are joining forces with the Fonds de la recherche en santÈ du QuÈbec (FRSQ) and Quebec’s Health and Social Services Ministry (MSSS) to help in the battle against chronic pain and give a boost to Quebec’s pain researchers and clinics affiliated with Quebec’s four medical-research universities.
The partnership – a first in Canada – is designed to strengthen what is already the country’s leading pain research and treatment network, the Quebec Pain Research Network (QPRN), which links pain clinics at Quebec’s four university-hospital networks and more than 75 doctors and researchers specialized in chronic pain.
Under the partnership, Pfizer Canada, AstraZeneca, the FRSQ and MSSS will provide $4.35 million over four years to fund research and education that will improve our understanding of chronic pain and help doctors diagnose and treat pain more effectively."
“The battle against chronic pain is really a collective effort uniting researchers in the public and private sectors, front-line medical professionals and patients themselves,” said Alain Beaudet, President and CEO of the FRSQ. In leading the partnership, the FRSQ’s goal is to support Quebec’s pain research, particularly to advance understanding of prevalence, incidence and the natural course of different pain syndromes, and to ensure that this knowledge is transferred to the clinic to benefit patients.
“This initiative takes us to the next level by bringing our research knowledge and excellence onto the front-lines to help doctors and patients manage pain more effectively,” Beaudet said.
http://www.pfizer.ca/en/media_centre/ne ... rticle=259
†
Here's a picture of Dr. Beaudet with his industry partners, at a pharmaceutical convention in San Diego-
Again, Dr. Beaudet establishes a FIRST in Canada--the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery!!
http://www.merckfrosst.ca/mfcl/en/corpo ... _2008.html
"At the prestigious BIO 2008 conference under way this week in San Diego, Raymond Bachand, QuÈbec Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade (MDEIE), Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the MontrÈal Region; Paul LÈvesque, President and Chief Executive Officer of†Pfizer†Canada; Mark S. Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca Canada; and Dawn Graham, President, Merck Frosst Canada, announced the creation of the QuÈbec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM). They were accompanied by Dr.†Alain†Beaudet, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Fonds de la recherche en santÈ du QuÈbec (FRSQ), the province's public-sector health research funding agency, and by Mr. Max Fehlmann, director of CQDM.
This consortium, a first in Canada, is dedicated to stimulating research into drug development in QuÈbec, with a focus on the pre-competitive stages-which represent a critical step in the process. By bringing together eminent scientists from industry, university, hospital and government circles, the CQDM will foster synergy between university and industry research. The resulting collaborative network will help create tools that are better adapted to the development of safer and more effective drugs."
†And here's yet another study initiated by Pfizer under Dr. Beaudet, now on the CIHR---
Pfizer†Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and UniversitÈ Laval are today announcing the creation of an international research chair aimed at understanding and explaining insulin resistance and the risk of cardiovascular complications in diabetic obese patients.†Pfizer†Canada is injecting $1.05 million, and the CIHR close to $600,000, both over a 5-year period, into this innovative research project headed by Dr. AndrÈ Marette. A first in Canada, the†Pfizer-CIHR Research Chair on the Pathogenesis of Insulin Resistance and Cardiovascular Disease is being set up in the Cardiology Unit of HÙpital Laval, a UniversitÈ Laval-affiliated hospital, in Quebec City.
†
“The awarding of this research chair reflects the CIHR's strategy of emphasizing excellence for developing advanced research,” says Dr.†AlainBeaudet, President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). “Dr. Marette's work concerns the juncture of research on diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease, three areas in which Canadian publications have had a major impact at the international level. There is no question that research generated by the research chair will significantly help advance our knowledge in these areas and improve the health of Canadians."
†
†
This next connection to the pharmaceutical industry comes from published analysis of the Canadian conflicts of interest in the CIHR--note the mention of Pfizer once again--one of Dr. Beaudet's first appointments was the vice-president of Pfizer to the CIHR governing council-
The entire paper, published in Open Medicine can be accessed here:
http://www.openmedicine.ca/article/download/371/337.
"The appointment of Dr. Bernard Prigent,†vice-president of Pfizer Canada, to CIHR’s governing†Council—the first pharmaceutical representative to be†so appointed 25–29—andstatements by CIHRpresidentDr.†
Alain Beaudet in the context of this appointment, emphasizing the need to intensify collaboration and even†
to align CIHR’s “agenda” and “vision” with the pharmaceutical industry,30 do raise the question whether CIHR†
remains sufficiently independent from industry to operatetheDSEN.Asoneofus(TL)suggested at a hearing of†
the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health†related to this appointment, Dr. Beaudet’s justifications†
provided in support of this appointment are worrisome†rather than reassuring.31 Steven Lewis has remarked on†
this appointment that “Pfizer has an obvious interest in†the flow ofCIHR funds to science that may lead to drug†
development,andanobviousinterestindivertingCIHR†fundsawayfromsciencethatmayrevealthecomparative ineffectivenessofoneofitsdrugsorchallengethepharmacological therapeutic paradigm.”28 We therefore recommend that CIHRand the ministerofhealth,towhom†CIHR reports, carefully evaluate the impact of such appointments and ofincreased collaboration withindustry†ontheDSEN,andensureitscontinuingindependence."
Here are other reports outlining the conflict of interest in the appointment of a Pfizer executive to the CIHR---
Abstract†The appointment of Dr. Bernard Prigent, vice-president and medical director of Pfizer Canada, to the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, outraged many Canadian health researchers. Pfizer has been a "habitual offender," persistently engaging in illegal and corrupt marketing practices, bribing physicians and suppressing adverse trial results. Since 2002 the company and its subsidiaries have been assessed $3 billion in criminal convictions, civil penalties and jury awards. The $2.3-billion settlement in September 2009 – a month before Dr. Prigent's appointment – set a new record for both criminal fines and total penalties. A link with Pfizer might well advance the commercialization of Canadian research – unhindered by law or morality. Is that now the only mandate, Dr. Beaudet?
http://www.noveltechethics.ca/site_beyo ... 147&page=6
†
And here is a story about Dr. Bernard Prigent, the inside man for Pfizer---who turned out to be a LOBBYIST for the pharma company--
http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/bernard- ... id=1503474
"But the parliamentary committee did not have a crucial piece of evidence: not only is Prigent a vice president of Pfizer, but he is also a†registered lobbyist for Pfizer. That information is only now coming to light, and has never been previously reported. According to the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada, the government agency that regulates lobbyists, Prigent's position as Pfizer lobbyist is to sway policy at the "Canadian Institute of Health Researchers (CIHR) and other Research Oriented Spending Programs as it relates to private/public research and development partnerships," and Prigent is to achieve these aims through both oral and written techniques.
In other words, Prigent the Pfizer lobbyist is paid to lobby Prigent the CIHR official."
We have been discussing the importance of objectivity in science of the freedom from the constraints of pharmaceutical influences in medical research. †I am not Canadian, but just one afternoon of googling has provided me with †enough information to make my stomach turn. †Canadian investigative journalists, Canadian ethics committees, Canadian people---I ask you, what's the next step?
†
†

But this is not science. And when scientists examined the treatment, they were not impressed. A joint report of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the MS Society of Canada issued two weeks ago came to four major conclusions: Zamboni's work is flawed; he has weak evidence; the treatment is dangerous; and there is little reason to think that the theory underlying the treatment is correct.

"There are thousands upon thousands of women who have breast implants and complain of terrible pain," an ABC reporter said in 1995. "Can they all be wrong?" Indeed they could. At the time there were roughly 100 million women in the United States. Of those, one per cent had implants. And one per cent had connective tissue diseases. Thus, 10,000 women could be expected to have both implants and disease by coincidence alone.

The assertion that the treatment is dangerous is, as we all know, absurd. A risk/benefit analysis would come out heavily in favour of the treatment. People who believe otherwise do not live with MS.
Bruce.

It's not within my ability to guess what results will be found upon proper testing but at this point it remains nothing more than assumption that the venous systems of the general public are unsullied by stenosis.

My assumption was that in using the word "venography" Ashton was referring to catheter venography in order for him to be correctly referring to it as the gold standard test. If correct, catheter venography isn't commonly used and even those cases involve going in to repair damage to the veins caused by dialysis so seeing problems would be taken for granted.

Maybe the average venous system really is perfect or near perfect but assuming isn't good enough because certainty is essential to any veracity that CCSVI might have.