IN MID-October, an email landed in my inbox that set me thinking. It was an invitation to a meeting organised by the UK Medical Journalists’ Association (MJA), described as “an evening workshop with arthritis experts”. Paid for by an “educational grant” from Merck Sharp & Dohme, the UK arm of the drugs giant Merck, it included a presentation by the company about its clinical research, with comments from other experts.
Ordinarily I might have deleted the mail, but at the time I was helping to complete a report into whether drug firms are exerting undue influence on patient groups (Â鶹´«Ã½…
