Healthy Skepticism Library item: 16525

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Bowman MA
The impact of drug company funding on the content of continuing medical education.
Möbius 1986; 6:(1):66-69

Abstract:

An analysis was performed to compare the content of two continuing medical
education courses on calcium channel blockers that were funded by two
different drug companies. The sponsoring university had guidelines for
interaction with commercial companies designed to prevent the development of
inappropriate bias. In Course I, the company drug received 31 percent of the
total drug mentions; in Course II, the company drug received 60 percent of
the total drug mentions. In both courses, the clinical effects noted for the
company drug were more likely to be positive than for the non-company drugs.
In Course I, the mentions of clinical effects of the non-company drugs as
compared to the company’s drug were more likely to be negative, and in
Course II, the clinical effects of the non-company drugs were more likely to
be equivocal. The few statements directly comparing the drugs usually
indicated that the company drug was the better drug. Thus, there appeared to
be evidence of bias in the content of the courses related to the funding
sources.