Drug companies and the medical press

As a librarian at a university with a sizable number of nursing students and a correspondingly high level of use of medical journals, I found this book review from Mother Jones to be rather disturbing. According to the reviewer's synopses of the two books reviewed -- The Truth About Drug Companies, by Marcia Angell, and On The Take, by Jerome Kassirer -- "the drug and biotech industries have gained unprecedented leverage over what doctors and patients know -- and don't know -- about the $200 billion worth of prescription pharmaceuticals consumed by Americans each year. Industry has gained that leverage by funding and, increasingly, controlling medical research...." Both authors are former editors-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. Any thoughts, Pablo? Or anyone else?

Libraries and librarians try diligently to make sure that unbiased information is available for library users, especially in areas such as medical research, where biased or inaccurate information can be literally deadly. We caution users against relying on unverified, unvetted, potentially biased material from the general web. But what if the peer-reviewed sources or the researchers whose work they report are also on the take? What if all the wells are poisoned?

I think I'll just plan to stay healthy.

Edit, 9/12: This new policy from several leading medical journals may help alleviate the problem.