Jean-Pierre Garnier of GSK calls for a "sophisticated" scientific debate

Apparently journalists and scientists are responsible for unsophisticated discussion of scientific misconduct involving GlaxoSmithKline products (Avandia, Seroxat/Paxil). So says Jean-Pierre Garnier chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline.

"My wish for the media is to be more sophisticated when they report scientific news," he said at the presentation in London. "Debates now are being thrown into the public domain before scientists have given their opinion."

Read on (Glaxo chief curses media and issues profit warning).

I am a scientist and a doctor Mr Garnier ....... and the science stinks. That's my opinion. How does one have a "sophisticated" discussion about scientific misconduct?

They just can't stop themselves - first looking to discredit scientists, then to discredit patients, then to discredit journalists - instead of addressing the shortcomings of their science and ethics.

Never mind the non-transparent science. Never mind the apparent cheating of results in Paxil clinical trials. Never mind the selective publication of "positive" data. Never mind the false and evidence-free statements made about the safety of Paxil. Never mind the bullying of academics, witholding of information from prescribers, threats of legal action, involvement with the UK government, and non-existent criminal self investigations. Never mind Keller, Buse, Laden or study 329. Never mind the patients. Never mind the failure to answer actual scientific questions.

To quote Matthew Holford:

He's got a f_cking nerve to demand that "scientists" (all scientists, or just the ones that agree with and are paid by GSK) are the only ones who are able to proclaim blatantly evident truths. We have only to read the correspondence between McCafferty, Oakes, Keller and Laden (who were responsible for the travesty of science that was the write-up of Paxil Protocol 329).

Quite

Your company disobeyed the rules of science Jean-Pierre Garnier.

The scientific debate cannot be "sophisticated" because there is no real science.

Sales are plummeting and the stock market isn't too pleased. That is excellent in my view. It is about time the stock market started realizing that in a "science based" business, what matters is the quality, transparency and honesty of the science, not the quality of the spin, cover-up and regulatory collusion. It's called the free market. Thinking patients are starting to take notice too.

And what useless journalism in this Guardian piece.

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