Friday, November 21, 2008

Investigations: NPR Host, Guests Had Pharma Ties

Dr. Frederick Goodwin, host of a popular show on NPR, earned at least $1.3 million giving marketing lectures for drug makers between 2000 and 2007, reports this interesting blog item on Jim Romenesko's site, citing this New York Times piece. Especially noteworthy, reported a Slate article on the same controversy last May, is that Goodwin hosted an NPR show called "Prozac Nation: Revisited," which featured four guests who talked about how worries about a link between Prozac and suicide are overblown. All four guests also have financial ties with antidepressant drug makers, according to the report. As well, Goodwin's show, The Infinite Mind, itself has received "unrestricted grants" from one antidepressant manufacturer. Also interesting is the back-and-forth debate appended to the end of that Slate piece between an NPR producer, the NPR ombudsman and the Slate article's authors.

TAGS: pharma, investigations

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