Healthy Skepticism Library item: 18805

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: news

Graham J
Survey: Fewer doctors taking freebies from drug companies
Los Angeles Times 2010 Nov 8
http://web.archive.org/web/20101111094627/http://www.latimes.com/health/ct-doctor-gift-report,0,5413214.story

Full text:

Fewer doctors report accepting drug samples, gifts, meals and all-expenses-paid trips from drug companies, according to a new study published Monday that comes amid mounting concerns over the potential for conflicts of interest in medical practice.

Still, arrangements between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry continue to be common; 84 percent of physicians reported some type of tie with drug companies in 2009, compared with 94 percent in 2004.

The report in the Archives of Internal Medicine is based on a survey filled out last year by 1,891 family physicians, internists, pediatricians, cardiologists, surgeons, psychiatrists and anesthesiologists. A similar survey was completed by 1,662 doctors in 2004.

Comparisons show especially sharp falloffs in the number of physicians reporting being paid by drug companies for continuing medical education or attending meetings in expensive or exotic locations; 18 percent of doctors reported receiving these reimbursements in 2009, down from 35 percent in 2004.

Also, fewer doctors report speaking on behalf of drug companies (8.6 percent in 2009 versus 16 percent in 2004), consulting for pharmaceutical firms (6.7 percent versus 18 percent) and participating in drug company advisory boards (4.6 percent versus 9 percent).

The results “may be signaling the slow death of the primary marketing model for drug companies, which is paying doctors to influence their behavior,” said Eric Campbell, the study’s leader and director of research at the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The physicians most likely to have relationships with drug companies practiced in independent groups; those least likely were employed by hospitals or medical schools, many of which have adopted policies cracking down on gift-giving by pharmaceutical representatives.

“As more physicians move out of mom-and-pop shops and into larger institutional settings, expect to see this trend continue,” said Dr. John Santa, director of the health ratings center for Consumer Reports.

Among specialties, cardiologists were most likely to have any kind of relationship with drug companies (92.8 percent) and psychiatrists the least likely (79.8 percent).

Jeff Francer, assistant general counsel for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said many of the activities tracked – such as giving drug samples to physicians – were “perfectly appropriate and in the interest of patients.”

Last year, the industry group adopted voluntary guidelines calling for companies to stop giving doctors free pens or mugs and reiterating restrictions against giving tickets to entertainment events. The American Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American College of Physicians have recommended that physicians stop accepting gifts, meals and free travel to educational conferences.