Protecting Scientific Integrity: The Commercial Speech Doctrine Applied to Industry Publications

Abstract

The pharmaceutical industry is a competitive business. Companies spend billions of dollars researching and developing new drugs. Many drugs never make it to market. For the limited drugs that make it through the experimental, regulatory, and clinical rigors of drug development, companies recoup their lost expenditures for the drugs that previously failed.Pharmaceutical companies face increasing pressure to bring new treatments to market in order to survive. The economic reality of survival and profits may distort a company's decision-making process regarding full disclosure on a particular new drug. An example of this type of conflict was seen in the silicone breast implant fiasco in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Dow Corning, the manufacturer of the implants, withheld important data from long-term animal models that demonstrated adverse effects from the breast implants. Further, Dow failed to conduct long-term studies on breast implants, even when armed with data indicating that such studies were necessary to ensure the continued health of the patients.