UK Charities received funds from Vioxx maker Merck

When consumers need information on the Internet it is generally true that the most appropriate website is the one that has the same domain name. For instance, if you want to buy wine, the place to go is wine.com. Similarly, if you want beauty products, you go to beauty.com.

This makes life easy for everyone, but it can also be abused - as is the case of drug companies. For instance, arthrtis.com is actually operated by Pfizer - the drug company that makes the now-banned Bextra (after reports of severe side effects). The company also sells Celebrex, though with a black box warning. However, a casual visitor to the website will not be able to figure that out. Similarly, cancer.com is operated by Ortho Biotech - another company that makes drugs.

Many patients wrongly assume that such websites are somehow independent or impartial but they are not. That is what people also assume when they think of all these non-for-profit organizations that supposedly help everyone. A big scandal is developing in the UK where it has been found that many leading charities that were helping arthritis patients were also receiving funds from Merck (the maker of now banned Vioxx) and other painkiller manufacturers.

Arthritis Care, National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, the National Osteoporosis Society and the British Society for Rheumatology are some of the charity organizations that have financial ties to drugmakers while an average person would not be able to find that out.

Almost always, drug companies also fund research at university, research labs, and even at some small companies. These institutions are so desperate for money that they will do anything to get the funds. Not all medical journals require the contributors to disclose financial ties to corporations. In other words, one can hardly trust anyone these days. So when you take a drug or seek advice from a doctor or an organization, you must be very careful.

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