Pharmaceutical Company Contact and Prescribing

[HuckleB]

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/pharmaceutical-company-contact-and-prescribing/

"In my group practice, the Yale Medical Group, drug-company sponsored lunches and similar events have been banned. This is part of a trend, at least within academic medicine, to create some distance between physicians and pharmaceutical companies, or at least their marketing divisions. The justifications for this are several, and are all reasonable. One reason is the appearance of being too cozy, which compromises the role of academic physicians as independent experts.

But the primary reason is the belief that “detailing” by pharmaceutical sales representatives has a negative effect on the prescribing habits of physicians. There is reason to believe this may be the case because of cases of bad behavior on the part of pharmaceutical marketing divisions – ghost writing white papers, for example. The concern, backed by evidence, is that pharmaceutical companies introduce spin and bias into the information they provide to physicians, whether though CME, detailing, literature, or sponsored lectures. Even when the information itself is not massaged, it is cherry picked, so in the end physicians are not getting a thorough and unbiased assessment of the facts.

The FDA does heavily regulate the marketing of information about pharmaceuticals, but marketers are very clever about exploiting loopholes and seem to be one step ahead of the regulators.

On the other hand there are those who argue that physicians can handle access to information and they are equipped to take it with a grain of salt and put it into context. Certainly most physicians I speak to believe this about themselves. Further, information provided by pharmaceutical companies may actually improve prescribing habits if it makes physicians aware of new products on the market and new information about the drugs they prescribe. The information itself is FDA approved (or at least should be), even if it is selective and wrapped in spin.

..."

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Uh oh. It's those science based medicine people, again. Uh, and they're against much contact between MDs and pharm reps? How can that be?

Hmmmmmmm.

:)

[grilled onions]

1. In This Area

Medical clinics have signs telling the medical reps they can only park in far off parking lots. Those not obeying this rule will be towed. On the doctors front doors often you will see signs telling them they are only allowed certain hours/certain days to push their goods. It's baby steps but I am glad to see that patients are,once again, more important then free mugs and free "business" trips paid for by the pharma industry.

[HuckleB]

2. For most docs, patients always have been the priority.

Ugly anecdotes tend to get spread far and wide, but that doesn't mean they're truly representative.

And, yes, it's good that medical organizations are taking a real stand on this, finally.

[Lint Head]

3. Yes! The reason I have waited for medical attention the last three times

I've been to the doctor is because a damn drug rep was in his office pushing drugs! Is that why that wait in line in Canada too?

[HuckleB]

4. It's odd.

I've worked with a lot of doctors, and not one of them will talk to a drug rep while they have patients waiting to see them.

[HuckleB]

5. I see this was unreccommended, too.

Doesn't that seem unethical? Hmmmm.

[HuckleB]

6. Hasta...

Ignorance appears to be the desire when it comes to health care for far too many, and there are far too many working to increase ignorance.

Fuck it.