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Conflict of Interest Taints Antibiotic Research

Antibiotics may not be the best way to treat ear infections. This double-blind study from the University of Pittsburgh found that children treated with amoxicillin didn't recover any faster than children treated with placebo, and were even more likely to have their infections recur. These results contradict a 1987 analysis of the same data, which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine and supported amoxicillin treatment. The Journal of the American Medical Association decided to publish this alternative report after reviewing evidence showing (1) that the authors of the original report omitted data that did not support amoxicillin, (2) that amoxicillin's manufacturer paid $260,000 in honoraria to the scientist responsible for the pro-amoxicillin report, and (3) that the manufacturer paid $3.5 million in research grants to the research center where the study was performed. - E. I. Cantekin et al. "Antimicrobial therapy for otitis media with effusion ('secretory' otitis media),. Journal a/the American Medical Association 266 (Dec. 18, 1991): 8309-17; See editorial comments on pages 3333-34 of the same issue.

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