I recently discovered that the BBC’s Breakfast Doctor, Dr Rosemary
Leonard, who has advocated antidepressants in the media, gets paid by a number
of pharmaceutical companies for PR activities on their behalf. Once again,
current editorial policy does not protect the millions of people who follow her
advice everyday from the potential conflict of interest she may have and the
biasing effects of this interest. Here is the evidence for her pharmaceutical
ties: Firstly, there is a statement on her website this says, and I quote:
"In view of her extensive experience, she is often asked to present
medical corporate videos and take part in PR activities for drug
companies" http://www.drrosemaryleonard.co.uk/about
The financial nature of Dr Leonard’s ties are declared to the “Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency”. The following PDFs from the MHRA website show that Dr Leonard has undertaken paid PR work for pharmaceutical companies like Lilly, Crookes Healthcare and GlaxoSmithKline. You can find confirmation of this here: http://www.mhra.gov.uk/home/groups/pl-p/documents/committeedocument/con003471.pdf
and here:
Hi, I find this article about Dr Rosemary Leonard shocking. Most of us trust the BBC and consider it an impartial source so its such a shame if this is true.
ReplyDeleteI’ve tried to access the links but I’m taken to a “Roehamton University login”. Any ideas how I can access the links?
Copy and paste this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mhra.gov.uk/home/groups/es-cb/documents/committeedocument/con2015695.pdf
click on "archive"