Marketing messages in pharmacological papers and scientific chapters: The case of palmitoylethanolamide and its formulations

摘要

In the paper written by Impellizzeri, Esposito, Attley and Cuzzocrea, ‘Targeting inflammation: new therapeutic approaches in chronic kidney disease (CKD)’ in your journal, one of the authors reported a conflict of interest [1]. He (James Attley) stated: “James Attley, one of the authors of this review article, serves as a consultant and advisor to Prismic Pharmaceuticals, and has an equity-based interest in the company.” Prismic is currently developing a special, patented formulation of palmitoylethanolamide (PEA); ultramicronized PEA in tablets. This is remarkable; the revised date of the article was 18-2-2014, and within one month the same James Attley was referred to on the website of Prismic as being a senior manager in the company: Vice President (VP) Business Development and Licensing. Needless to say that a ‘conflict of interest’ of a VP is a greater issue compared to a conflict of interest of a ‘consultant and advisor to Prismic Pharmaceuticals’.