Industry Gifts Decried by Some Doctors
JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, published an article advocating that doctors in teaching hospitals and elsewhere should forgo the various types of gifts offered by drug and medical device manufacturers. Of course federal law forbids physicians from being paid by firms to prescribe their products, but “softer” gifts and consulting contracts between the former and the later can still generate conflicts of interest. According to this New York Times article, all the golf trips, vacations, meals and other gifts showered on doctors by drug companies add up to tens of billions of dollars, ahead of R&D or direct-to-consumer advertising (aka DTCA, which is however prohibited in many countries as far as prescription drugs are concerned).
The doctors who authored the article (who work at highly-regarded universities) propose more restrictive regulation that could go as far as eliminate small gifts or pharmaceutical samples, as they do not see a lot of medical added value in sales calls made by drug maker salesforces to doctors. On the downside, this panel concluded that such a close relationship between doctors and the industry results in drug overprescribing and lack of transparency as far as the adverse effects of drugs is concerned. While the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) applauded the study, unsurprisingly the Washington Post reports that spokesmen for pharma companies thought the recommended steps were not only unnecessary but could deprive doctors of valuable information. Maybe the industry can figure out a way to collaborate with and inform physicians without the need for cozy relationships?
January 25, 2006 Related topics: Ethics & Scandals, Trends