Shills, Fixers and Toadies....

AllTheSelfInterest
ThatFitsVille

....In The Gambling Business is One Thing.

But do we really want them making important decisions about prescription drugs as well?

Sean Holman, of Public Eye has the most recent chapter of that story:

....In the past, the University of British Columbia's Therapeutics Initiative was responsible for conducting the scientific work that informs the government's decisions on which drugs PharmaCare should cover. The initiative's conflict of interest guidelines state its "members and their immediate families shall have no direct or indirect financial interest in the company sponsoring an application or trial." The government has now given other groups and individuals a chance to compete for that work - which ensures taxpayer dollars aren't wasted subsidizing drugs that don't provide good value for British Columbians. But successful bidders won't necessarily have the same ethical standards as the initiative.

According to the government, "individuals who declare possible conflict of interest information are not automatically excluded from participating in the drug review process.".....

Or.

Put another way....

"We the members of the BC Liberal government of Gordon Campbell really are fully prepared to co-opt absolutely everything."

OK?



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Paul Willcocks saw the (very badly scrawled) writing on the wall for the Therapeutics Initiative some time ago.

.