A thing that is always in the back of my mind when reading about these new weight loss drugs is how we KNOW that physicians accepting even small token gifts (pens and tchotchkes) does influence their prescribing behavior. Pharma deploys pretty young sales reps to deliver these tchotchkes, schmooze, and make doctors feel warm and fuzzy.
If a pen or a sandwich influences prescribing behavior, then what effect does $50k, $100k, $150k have on prescribing behavior?
Even if they're not providing direct patient care (I don't know how they'd have time to, what with all their "research"), they're teaching other doctors and writing stuff like this. Rushed and ill-informed doctors will just see "oh hey these guys are doctors, I can trust what they have to say" and accept the information at face value. (Edit: and the irony of this while these same doctors will roll their eyes at patients who do their own research is not lost on me.)
I think this is even more insidious and dangerous than pens, and I wish we could go back to the days of pens and post-it notes.
I'd call that fairly solid evidence of bias, or at least infinitely more solid than the evidence they are using to push this weight loss crap. I recall reading about the research that showed even small freebies can create bias.
What infuriates me is when people look at a huge laundry list of connections to industry interests and lo and behold those with such connections never seem to report anything that isn't beneficial to those connected industries and still insist that there us no evidence of bias...and therefore, I should take the pro-industry research claims at face value as complete fact until bias can be "definitively proven".
Ragen, I always learn so freaking much from you. I’ve barely made it past the beginning of the article and I’m already down a rabbit trail about ARR vs RRR 😂 I’m going to comb through your basic statistics series ASAP, and for anyone who might find that a video helps (as it does me), I found this video. It’s 11 years old, and ironically it uses heart health drug trials as its example!
"So every listed author has either taken money from, was contracted by, or is a direct employee of Novo Nordisk. Together, those who are listed in open payments have taken a group total of $11,576,646.15..."
Gee, you really start to understand why Novo Nordisk is charging so much for their "miracle" drug.
Thank you for exposing the complete farce of these claims! Just garbage, 🗑️ only more dangerous! Gentle feedback—pretty please, and this is said with love and respect, slow down the pace of reading. 😎
Hi Kate, Thank you for the feedback. Slowing my reading pace is something I'm working very hard to do, believe it or not, this is significantly slower than I normally read aloud. I've also asked Substack support if they could offer not just an option to speed up the audio, but also to slow it down. If you'd like you can request that as well be sending an email to support@substack.com In the meantime, I'll keep working on slowing down with apologies for not getting it right.
Thank you for being so gracious, Ragen. We just don't want to miss anything! And, of course, we can always read, too! 🤗💖That's a good idea, too, for a tool from the platform; other audio platforms offer that option. Keep up the great work, and be your amazing badass self!
This article is EVERYTHING!! Since being part of the body liberation & fat liberation movement I’ve learned ALWAYS follow the money aka. who paid for research and narratives to be told a certain way.
I’ve recently watched a podcast with Johann Hari on his new book about Ozempic ‘The Magic Pill’, and I keep wondering in he got pharma money for it. He likely did. He wrote about the pros and cons of the drug. But Novo Nordisk is sneaky like that nowadays, because even bad pr is good pr, as they say..
Meanwhile, Zepbound is touting its studies showing that it MAY ease the symptoms of sleep apnea. Perhaps the Wegovy study is part of a trend by Pharma to do an end run around the refusal of Medicare and insurance companies to cover drugs prescribed solely for weight loss.
Are there any experienced science reporters left in mainstream media outlets? I know newsrooms have been gutted just about everywhere. It's really scary to think journalists on a health/science beat aren't capable of taking a critical (or even just stats-literate) approach to this kind of data.
How do we get this information out into the world?!?!
I created a graphic inspired by your wisdom around diet culture, which, of course, you and everyone else are welcome to use! It's included in the first post in what I hope will be an ongoing series.
Thank you, Ragen, for this incredibly deep dive and for continuing to shine the light on the incredible mindf***ery that is "weight loss research" and the diet industry.
Unbelievable. Thanks for this breakdown.
A thing that is always in the back of my mind when reading about these new weight loss drugs is how we KNOW that physicians accepting even small token gifts (pens and tchotchkes) does influence their prescribing behavior. Pharma deploys pretty young sales reps to deliver these tchotchkes, schmooze, and make doctors feel warm and fuzzy.
If a pen or a sandwich influences prescribing behavior, then what effect does $50k, $100k, $150k have on prescribing behavior?
Even if they're not providing direct patient care (I don't know how they'd have time to, what with all their "research"), they're teaching other doctors and writing stuff like this. Rushed and ill-informed doctors will just see "oh hey these guys are doctors, I can trust what they have to say" and accept the information at face value. (Edit: and the irony of this while these same doctors will roll their eyes at patients who do their own research is not lost on me.)
I think this is even more insidious and dangerous than pens, and I wish we could go back to the days of pens and post-it notes.
I'd call that fairly solid evidence of bias, or at least infinitely more solid than the evidence they are using to push this weight loss crap. I recall reading about the research that showed even small freebies can create bias.
What infuriates me is when people look at a huge laundry list of connections to industry interests and lo and behold those with such connections never seem to report anything that isn't beneficial to those connected industries and still insist that there us no evidence of bias...and therefore, I should take the pro-industry research claims at face value as complete fact until bias can be "definitively proven".
Ragen, I always learn so freaking much from you. I’ve barely made it past the beginning of the article and I’m already down a rabbit trail about ARR vs RRR 😂 I’m going to comb through your basic statistics series ASAP, and for anyone who might find that a video helps (as it does me), I found this video. It’s 11 years old, and ironically it uses heart health drug trials as its example!
https://youtu.be/7K30MGvOs5s?si=qZ0-lhizxW8YsAR6
Holy shit! Your analysis of this foolishness is very impressive - thank you!
So good. So many people sent me the CNN article on it this week… it’s crazy they can get away with this… thank you for your work.
OMG
HOLY MOLEY!
"So every listed author has either taken money from, was contracted by, or is a direct employee of Novo Nordisk. Together, those who are listed in open payments have taken a group total of $11,576,646.15..."
Gee, you really start to understand why Novo Nordisk is charging so much for their "miracle" drug.
Is this the study on which Medicare based its decision to pay for Wegovy for people who have been diagnosed with a specific heart disease?
The original trial is. I wrote about it here if it's helpful: https://weightandhealthcare.substack.com/p/wegovy-for-cardiovascular-risk-reduction
Thank you for exposing the complete farce of these claims! Just garbage, 🗑️ only more dangerous! Gentle feedback—pretty please, and this is said with love and respect, slow down the pace of reading. 😎
Hi Kate, Thank you for the feedback. Slowing my reading pace is something I'm working very hard to do, believe it or not, this is significantly slower than I normally read aloud. I've also asked Substack support if they could offer not just an option to speed up the audio, but also to slow it down. If you'd like you can request that as well be sending an email to support@substack.com In the meantime, I'll keep working on slowing down with apologies for not getting it right.
Thank you for being so gracious, Ragen. We just don't want to miss anything! And, of course, we can always read, too! 🤗💖That's a good idea, too, for a tool from the platform; other audio platforms offer that option. Keep up the great work, and be your amazing badass self!
This article is EVERYTHING!! Since being part of the body liberation & fat liberation movement I’ve learned ALWAYS follow the money aka. who paid for research and narratives to be told a certain way.
I’ve recently watched a podcast with Johann Hari on his new book about Ozempic ‘The Magic Pill’, and I keep wondering in he got pharma money for it. He likely did. He wrote about the pros and cons of the drug. But Novo Nordisk is sneaky like that nowadays, because even bad pr is good pr, as they say..
anyone know how I can find out who funded a book?
I don't know if he got pharma money, I do know that he is a disgraced journalist (https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/02/johann-hari-interview-drugs-book-independent) who wrote a book about depression that was also questionable in its veracity (https://thequietus.com/opinion-and-essays/black-sky-thinking/johann-hari-plagiarism-mental-health-bad-science/) and who has already been caught in at least one lie in this book (https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/may/15/johann-hari-apologises-after-falsely-attributing-ozempic-claim-to-food-critic-jay-rayner)
WOW, what a mindfuck this is! Thank you so much for researching all this for us, Ragen!!!
We need a better, standardized framework for disclosing biases in research….
Meanwhile, Zepbound is touting its studies showing that it MAY ease the symptoms of sleep apnea. Perhaps the Wegovy study is part of a trend by Pharma to do an end run around the refusal of Medicare and insurance companies to cover drugs prescribed solely for weight loss.
Are there any experienced science reporters left in mainstream media outlets? I know newsrooms have been gutted just about everywhere. It's really scary to think journalists on a health/science beat aren't capable of taking a critical (or even just stats-literate) approach to this kind of data.
How do we get this information out into the world?!?!
Hi Ragen,
I created a graphic inspired by your wisdom around diet culture, which, of course, you and everyone else are welcome to use! It's included in the first post in what I hope will be an ongoing series.
https://naughtynetherworldpress.substack.com/p/breakfast-club-with-ornery-owl
Thank you, Ragen, for this incredibly deep dive and for continuing to shine the light on the incredible mindf***ery that is "weight loss research" and the diet industry.