NYT on the marginalization of H. pylori discovery

[Guest guest]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/11/health/11docs.html?pagewanted=1

[...]

Opposition to their radical thesis came from doctors with vested

interests in treating ulcers and other stomach disorders as well as

from drug companies that had come up with Tagamet, which blocked

production of gastric acid and was becoming the first drug with $1

billion annual sales.

Ulcer surgery was lucrative for surgeons who removed large portions

of the stomach from patients with life-threatening bleeding and

chronic symptoms. Psychiatrists and psychologists treated ulcer

patients for stress.

[...]

Also, Tagamet and similar drugs, known as H2 blockers, safely made

ulcers and their symptoms disappear. But the H2 blockers were not

one-shot cures. Ulcers often recurred, requiring repeated courses of

the drugs, providing a steady stream of profits.

" The opposition we got from the drug industry was basically

inertia, " said Dr. Barry J. Marshall of the University of Western

Australia, the other Nobel winner, and " because the makers of H2

blockers funded much of the ulcer research at the time, all they had

to do was ignore the Helicobacter discovery. "

" If the drug companies were truly into discovery, they would have

gone straight after the Helicobacter, " Dr. Marshall said, but they

did not because of the success with H2 blockers.

" Had these drugs not existed, the drug companies would have jumped

on our findings, " he added.

[...]

Further, Dr. Marshall said, " The fact that the big drug companies

who were supporting the journal articles ignored H. pylori was far

more effective than actually saying that a bacterial cause was not

true because if they had said it was false, or not important, they

would have created a controversy and maybe media interest. "

[...]

As a practicing gastroenterologist, Dr. Marshall saw many patients

go to surgery for ulcers and some die from internal bleeding.

[...]