I thought everyone was aware of a connection between the pharmaceutical industry and ASH. It's been discussed before on some of the forums I thought. They have a listing on
fakecharities.org
D puddlecote writes a great blog, sometimes about them and their vested interests. He mentions in
one post (a great read) how they first ignored and then basically spat on the grave of Allen Carr, a respected and best-selling author of a quit smoking guide who advised against using pharmaceutical products and presumably for that reason.
You might not be able to find a connection between ASH and the Robert James foundation now but in 2001 they did actually have a small share holding in GlaxoSmithKline as evidenced in this leaked
letter to the management at GSK (an interesting read).
How 'small' is not known - but seemingly sufficiently large to allow ASH to coerce and threaten the GSK board;
"ASH has worked closely with both Glaxo and SmithKline Beecham staff and always welcomed the active collaboration. I hope to continue this with the merged company. We have worked with GSK under the auspices of the WHO-Europe Partnership Project on tobacco dependence and at various one-off opportunities. ASH was instrumental in securing greater government commitment to smoking cessation products in the NHS National Plan and we have helped with PR for both Zyban and Niquitin CQ. Our involvement with GSK staff has, I believe, been mutually beneficial, and we have gained from exposure to the company's arguments and insights. I have always admired the commitment and professionalism of the GSK staff involved...
...ASH has a small shareholding in GSK and I will be attending with others to question you and the Chairman on this situation. I hope that Mr. Bonham will have already announced his departure by then and that such questioning proves unnecessary. More than anything, I would like to resume normal and constructive relations with GlaxoSmithKline."
The letter reads suspiciously like: "Do what you are told or we won't promote your products!"
