By Corporate Watch UK
Completed November 2002

3. Influence

Education and research
The discovery of new medicines and compounds is primarily done by, publicly funded, universities and institutes. These public institutions then license their patented discovery, for a fee, to a company that then develops the new discovery into a marketable drug. Financially strained universities often view their new discoveries as a fundraising opportunity, and “Scientists are requested to…promote and actively pursue commercialisation of their research findings.”[25] So, instead of doing research to further scientific knowledge, public institutions are pressured to research what can be sold to a company.

In addition, ‘Thirteen of the world's leading medical journals have recently (September 2001) mounted an outspoken attack on the rich and powerful drug companies, accusing them of distorting the results of scientific research for the sake of profits. The Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association and other major journals accused the drug giants of using their money - or the threat of its removal - to tie up academic researchers with legal contracts so that they are unable to report freely and fairly on the results of drug trials’. (Corporate Watch, Profile of the Pharmaceutical Industry-Footnote)

Public Relations
PR companies that GSK have retained include:

Burson Marsteller: In February 20001 GlaxoSmithKline selected Burson Marsteller (BM) to handle its launch in two regions.[26] BM is a large and powerful public relations company which is adept at creating a positive image for corporations involved in unethical business practices including human rights violations, environmental destruction and animal-testing. Many of these companies have faced public scrutiny and even convictions for their various activities. Further information regarding the company’s activities can be found at:
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/magazine/issue2/cw2f2.html

Rick Amme & Associates (Media & Crisis Management). Other clients have included Sara Lee Corp., R.J. Reynold Tobacco Co. and Time-Warner Cable[27]. A full list of their clients and the various holes they have helped clients out of can be found at: www.amme.com

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