E-drug: Legal threats from AstraZeneca (cont'd)
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I am responding to the e-mail from Rodolfo Dennis Verano that
reported that Dr. Holbrook at the Centre for the Evaluation of
Medicines at St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada has
been personally threatened with a lawsuit by AstraZeneca because
she authored a report that indicated less expensive drugs than
AstraZeneca's Losec (Omeprazol) were equally effective. Our
organization has many years of experience with these types of
threats, and perhaps some of our defensive measures will be helpful
for others.
We carry out technology assessment of healthcare devices, drugs and
procedures. All of our reports are authored and published in the name
of the organization, ECRI, a non-profit corporation, never in the
name(s) of an individual(s). This is not merely a legal ruse, but is due
to the fact that all of our reports are extensively reviewed and
approved by teams of internal and external reviewers, and so are not
the products of individuals. The organization must approve the report,
and thereby also agrees to take on any lawsuits that may result. ECRI
is rarely sued, never successfully. If individuals were hung out to dry,
there would undoubtedly be countless lawsuits, because the
manufacturers know their corporate pockets are deeper than those of
individuals. The whole point of incorporation laws is that individuals
cannot be held legally or financially responsible for the activities of the
organization. It follows that individuals elsewhere should not be taking
on potentially controversial product evaluations without being under
the legal umbrella of some organization that is capable of, and will
commit to mounting whatever legal defenses are necessary. This is
particularly true if the publication will not be in a journal. I am not
aware of lawsuits being filed against individual authors of legitimate
(i.e., non-fraudulent) scientific articles in scientific journals. For that
matter, not many lawsuits are filed against the journals either.
I suggest that Dr. Holbrook reorganize her activities so that they fall
under the corporate legal umbrella of either St. Joseph's Hospital, or a
government agency. If that is not possible, she could create her own
corporate entity that would also protect her. Lawsuits may still result,
but she will be protected individually. Even if her own small
corporation is attacked, she will be protected individually, and the
corporation will likely not have large assets at risk. Small non-profits
don't make very appealing targets.
You're dealing with sharks here; so you might as well use the same
weapons (corporate law) the sharks use to cover their own rears.
David L. Doggett, Ph.D.
Medical Research Analyst
Technology Assessment Group
ECRI, a non-profit health services research organization
5200 Butler Pike
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462-1298, USA
Phone: +1 (610) 825-6000 ext.5528
Fax: +1(610) 834-1275
E-mail: ddoggett@ecri.org
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