I did a new talk at TED about drug companies hiding the results of clinical trials, it went up today. This is a huge, ongoing problem, and it results in patients suffering and dying unnecessarily. So I’m really pleased that TED were able to give the story a platform. Video after the click:

That said, all I can think when I watch this jetlagged video is “fix your hair, take your hands out of your pockets, and for god’s sake tell some jokes”.

If you want to read more about this problem of “publication bias”, there’s lots on this site, here, and even more in Bad Pharma, a book I wrote about how to fix the problem of bad behaviour in the pharmaceutical industry (and among doctors, academics, regulators, patient associations…).

More on publication bias:

www.badscience.net/category/publication-bias/

A great blog from TED

blog.ted.com/2012/09/27/5-prescription-drugs-doctors-had-no-idea-could-hurt-their-patients/

The book:

amzn.to/N1QJTD

The foreword:

www.badscience.net/2012/09/heres-the-intro-to-my-new-book/

An extract in the Guardian:

www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/sep/21/drugs-industry-scandal-ben-goldacre

Previous TED talk:

www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science.html