Are Doctors and Drug Companies Getting too Cozy?
The close ties between doctors and the drug industry are long-standing, but recently health policy experts have been saying that it’s about time those ties were cut. Over the years, many reports of drug companies providing financial and material perks for doctors has caused an erosion of public trust in medical professionals – and experts say that to repair that particular problem, it’s time for doctors to cut ties with the drug companies that provide the kick-backs.
A series of comments made by health policy experts in the British Medical Journal elaborate on the issue, saying that doctors might have to give up the freebies to win back public trust. From inexpensive prescription pads and pens to seminars at luxurious hotels, there are plenty of rewards for doctors who cultivate good relationships with drug companies.
Benefits of Winning Doctors’ Favor go to the Drug Industry
For the drug industry the benefits are obviously massive, especially so considering recent reports indicate that TV drug advertising is less effective these days than in the past at selling name-brand prescription drugs. That means drug companies are relying more than ever on doctors to prescribe the drugs the companies sell, and offering perks to doctors is the traditional method companies use to get more products sold.
Last year, however, concerns over the relationship between doctors and the drug industry increased after Iowa Senator Charles Grassley accused Harvard University psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman, and other doctors, of failing to disclose payments they had received from certain drug companies.
Solutions to the Drug Industry Payola Problem
According to Dr. Marcia Angell of Harvard Medical School in Boston, the best solution is for doctors to simply cut their ties to the drug industry, once and for all – to stop accepting even the smallest gifts, and to recognize that their prescribing habits might be biased towards the companies they received those gifts from in the past.
Angell believes that instead of attending those cozy drug company-funded seminars, doctors should take personal responsibility for keeping up-to-date with their medical education. And, she says, professional associations shouldn’t allow drug companies to fund publications and meetings.
The meetings might be held in less luxurious surroundings, says Angell, but the results would be preferable, with more emphasis placed on impartial medical education rather than drug companies furthering their own agendas to sell more drugs.
photo credit: Navin75
