The Drug Industry Documents Archive (DIDA) is a digital archive of

pharmaceutical industry The pharmaceutical industry is a medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications and medical devices. Medications are then administered to (or self-administered by) patients for curing ...

documents created and maintained by the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

Library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and Center for Knowledge Management. DIDA is a part of the larger UCSF

Industry Documents Library The UCSF Industry Documents Library (IDL) is a digital archive of internal tobacco, drug, food, chemical and fossil fuel corporate documents, acquired largely through litigation, which illustrate industry efforts to influence policies and regulatio ...

which includes the

Truth Tobacco Industry Documents The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Truth Tobacco Industry Documents (formerly known as Legacy Tobacco Documents Library) is a digital archive of tobacco industry documents, funded by Truth Initiative and created and maintained by ...

. The archive contains documents about pharmaceutical industry

clinical trials Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...

, publication of study results, pricing,

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

, relations with physicians and drug company involvement in

continuing medical education Continuing medical education (CME) is continuing education (CE) that helps those in the medical field maintain competence and learn about new and developing areas of their field. These activities may take place as live events, written publications ...

. Most of the documents on DIDA were made public as a result of lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies

Parke-Davis Parke-Davis is a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Although Parke, Davis & Co. is no longer an independent corporation, it was once America's oldest and largest drug maker, and played an important role in medical history. In 1970 ...

, Warner-Lambert,

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...

, Merck & Co.,

Wyeth Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. was a pharmaceutical company until it was purchased by Pfizer in 2009. The company was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1860 as John Wyeth and Brother. Its headquarters moved to Collegeville, Pennsylvania, a ...

and

Abbott Labs Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, in the United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate k ...

, among others. DIDA was founded in 2005 with the support of a gift by Thomas Greene, the attorney for David Franklin, whistleblower in United States ex rel. Franklin v. Parke-Davis, the case from which the first documents in the archive originated. Researchers as well as students, journalists, and the general public, use the archive to investigate the ways pharmaceutical companies market their products. The

UCSF_Library The UCSF Library is the library of the University of California, San Francisco. It is one of the world's foremost libraries in the health sciences. Facilities The main branch (Kalmanovitz Library) is located at the Parnassus campus, with secondar ...

created this digital archive in an attempt to facilitate further research into the drug industry's practice of establishing close links with the medical community which has been shown to influence scientific research, drug approval, prescription practices, and ultimately, consumer health.

Collections

DIDA contains: *internal pharmaceutical company documents *correspondence between drug companies and physicians, researchers and educational institutions *regulatory and legal documents *court filings * depositions *expert reports *internal University documents Documents come from a variety of sources including: *Lawsuits against Merck & Co. regarding the marketing and use of

Vioxx Rofecoxib is a COX-2-selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ( NSAID). It was marketed by Merck & Co. to treat osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, acute pain conditions, migraine, and dysmenorrhea. Rofec ...

*The landmark whistleblower case involving Neurontin (

gabapentin Gabapentin, sold under the brand name Neurontin among others, is an anticonvulsant medication primarily used to treat neuropathic pain and also for partial seizures of epilepsy. It is a commonly used medication for the treatment of neuropath ...

) and

off-label marketing Off-label use is the use of pharmaceutical drugs for an unapproved indication or in an unapproved age group, dosage, or route of administration. Both prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs (OTCs) can be used in off-label ways, although most ...

: ''United States of America ex rel. David Franklin vs. Parke-Davis, Division of Warner-Lambert/Pfizer'' *Investigations into

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

and academic institutions by the

US Senate Finance Committee The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generall ...

, headed by

Charles Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2025, a role he also held from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Grassley is the s ...

(R-Iowa) *Investigations into the marketing of Vioxx to physicians by the

United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the main investigative United States congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one o ...

, headed by Henry A. Waxman *

Antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

litigation involving Abbott Labs and their

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

drug Norvir *Lawsuits against

for the unethical promotion of the hormone replacement drug

Premarin Conjugated estrogens (CEs), or conjugated equine estrogens (CEEs), sold under the brand name Premarin among others, is an estrogen medication which is used in menopausal hormone therapy and for various other indications. It is a mixture of th ...

to women. Wyeth paid

medical ghostwriter Medical ghostwriters are contracted by pharmaceutical companies and medical-device manufacturers to produce apparently independent manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals, conference presentations and other communications. Physicians and other scient ...

s to author journal articles about the drug.

References

External links

* Pharmaceutical industry American digital libraries Business and industry archives University of California, San Francisco {{UCSF

Collections

References

Further reading

External links