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Date: | Tue, 28 Mar 2006 17:52:25 EST |
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_http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/524994?src=mp_
(http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/524994?src=mp)
In my view, relations between physicians and industry have become
scandalous.[1] Many academics and community opinion leaders are paid large sums to
market industry products by becoming members of speaker's bureaus, by developing
marketing materials disguised as educational information, by signing articles
written by ghostwriters, and by promoting the off-label use of products.
These activities may benefit companies' shareholders, but they do not benefit
patients, and because the products promoted are usually the newest and most
expensive, they inflate the cost of care.
Though physicians who engage in these activities often believe that company
largesse cannot influence their objectivity, all evidence from psychological
studies suggests that this is a naive belief.[2] Aside from the harm of such
biases to patient care, participation in marketing sets a poor example for
younger physicians, who are being seduced by industry every day with lunches,
dinners, and gifts. The public has become increasingly aware that doctors are
making financial "deals" with pharmaceutical, biotech, and device companies.
People are beginning to lose trust that their doctors' advice is for their
benefit rather than for their doctors' benefit.
The profession's response to the increasing involvement with industry has
been feeble.[3] Our professional organizations and academic medical centers
must take a leadership role in reversing this troublesome trend by reducing or
eliminating pharmaceutical largesse at their institutions.
That's my opinion. I'm Dr. Jerome Kassirer, Distinguished Professor of
Medicine at Tufts University and former editor of The New England Journal of
Medicine.
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