The damage is done
Rather than publish impartial, peer reviewed articles their attempt at sensationalism may have cost patients a drug that may have helped them control their diabetes and GSK a product that took hundreds of millions of dollars to develop and market. I think Dr Gottlied said it best :
At what cost do political machinations of the medical journals come? NEJM editors have long favored more drug regulation. But medical journals have also historically played a special role in helping to define medical practice standards. Even decisions they make on how prominently to place a study, let alone how they editorialize about it, are seen as strong signals to clinicians on how doctors should weigh the evidence. So when editors pursue a political agenda, it's public health that pays a price. Degrading an institution that doctors depend on for balanced analysis and fair-minded editorial judgments isn't good for anyone.
No company is perfect, at some time we will all make mistakes. But rather than engage one another in conversation for the good of patients and the health community the NEJM has chosen to fire the first shot. Rather than ask "is this data supported" the NEJM has chosen to play politics and chose sides in the war against pharma. Yes pharma has done some things to turn up the heat on themselves but rather than continue to focus on the negatives of the industry isn't time that someone pointed out all the people that are alive today because of prescription drugs? Again I call on the Editor of the NEJM to step down. What they have done is a disservice to everyone one of its readers.