Dear Colleague,
Warm winter greeting from historic Bury St Edmunds in the East of England.
It is snowing outside hopefully the last snowfall for the season.
There is an interesting exchange of views on the VIGOR study in the NEJM
this week. The journal reaffirming its concerns on the study and the authors
standing by their original paper and Merck has expressed its own views as
well. All of this shows the medical publishing has come a long way and also
provides opportunity for open debate on issues of importance.
However in the end the readers of the journal, practicing professionals and
the public have to make up their mind now that the journal, authors and the
pharmaceutical have expressed their views.
Is there a critical appraisal tool to come to use to arrive at an evidence
based conclusion based on the three views?!!!
The following links provide full text access to the three views.
NEJM editorial:
Expression of concern reaffirmed
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/NEJMe068054v1.pdf
Authors of the VIGOR paper on
Response to expression of concern regarding VIGOR study
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/NEJMc066096v1.pdf
Corporate view from Merck
Merck Stands Firmly Behind the VIGOR Publication
http://www.merck.com/newsroom/press_releases/corporate/2006_0222.html
I thought this might be of interest to our EBM community.
Warm regards & very best wishes,
Badri
Dr.P.Badrinath MD, BS, M.Phil, MPH, PhD (Cantab), MFPH
Consultant in Public Health & Affiliated Clinical Lecturer,
Suffolk West PCT & University of Cambridge, UK
http://myprofile.cos.com/badrishanthi
Disclaimer: The above views are my own and not that of my employing
organisations.
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