Paul Krugman's column explains Vioxx, Merck, and Cleveland Clinic, in terms of the inter-dependent network of pharma, academic research centers, and doctors as they now are.
Above all, the line between medical researcher and medical entrepreneur has been blurred... Usually, [Marcia Angell] says, "both academic researchers and their institutions own equity" in these companies, giving them a strong incentive to make the big drug companies happy.
The point is that the whiff of corruption in our medical system isn't emanating from a few bad apples. The whole system of incentives encourages doctors and researchers to serve the interests of the medical industry.
The good news is that things don't have to be that way. Economic trends gave rise to the medical-industrial complex, but only because those trends interacted with bad policies, which can be fixed.
Prof Krugman will propose some policy changes in future columns.
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