Staffing shortfalls are so acute at Liverpool Hospital in Sydney, Australia, that senior doctors have been lobbying drugmakers for funds to privately recruit workers, according to a public inquiry into New South Wales hospitals, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The issue raises questions of the independence of the medical profession after it was revealed last month [...]

A senior member of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists resigned as convenor of its 2009 Congress after his peers unanimously voted down a proposal to dump drug-company sponsorship, The Australian reports.
The college was forced last week to appoint two co-convenors to replace Malcolm Battersby, a fellow of the college. RANZC president [...]

Australian drug companies forked out more than $30 million in six months hosting doctors at controversial “educational” events, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Medicines Australia, the industry trade group, has been forced to detail spending on doctor seminars of up to $2,500 a head, often hosted at expensive hotels and in exotic locations. A report prepared [...]

Amid global calls to end pharma’s direct sponsorship of physician education, the British Medical Journal writes about an investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that found industry sponsorship of sessions attended by thousands of general practitioners, who assume the programs are totally independent.
Industry representatives have confirmed that similar practices take place in the UK, where [...]

Australian families whose relatives died or became seriously ill with liver damage after taking the Novartis Cox-2 painkiller have launched a class action lawsuit against the country’s drug regulator and the drugmaker, claiming they were “treated like guinea pigs.”
Peter Archer, whose wife Elaine died in late February, tells The Sydney Morning Herald he wanted to [...]

In Australia, the health care giant is marketing its products to schoolchildren in a book being used in New South Wales classrooms, and the move is causing a flap. the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The 48-page curriculum resource called BodyWhys provides info on personal development and includes photos of various Johnson & Johnson products. In the [...]

A report alleges that docs down under are concerned the drugmaker may have tried to cover up the dangers of Prexige just weeks before the government ordered the Cox-2 painkiller off the shelves over two deaths, two liver transplants and serious liver problems in eight patients. More than 60,000 Australians and 1000 Tasmanians had taken [...]

The government took action after two deaths and two liver transplants, among eight serious reactions, were suffered by people who took the painkiller. Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration cited concerns over liver damage for cancelling the drugmaker’s registration for the med, which was referred to as Lymiracoxib in the official statement. Like Vioxx, which was withdrawn [...]