Healthy Skepticism Library item: 19864

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

Shashindarn CH, Sethuraman KR
Drug Promotion: push, promote or educate?
Essential Drugs Monitor 1995; (20):24
http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/fr/d/Js16517e/2.2.html#Js16517e.2.2

Abstract: The pharmaceutical industry spends 15-20% of its annual budget on medicinal drug promotion. Medical representatives, known as detailmen, are used extensively for drug promotion because one-to- one interaction is a powerful method of communicating – in this case, changing the prescribing behaviour of the physician in a “desirable” way. However, what is desirable from a commercial viewpoint may not be desirable from the clinical or patient’s viewpoint. This can diminish the doctor-patient relationship, which is based on trust and goodwill.Since l985, the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Pondicherry, India, has conducted a training programme for interns at the beginning of their hospital posting1. One of the sessions includes a role play simulating a physician-detailman interaction. The aim is to familiarise the interns with the promotional pressures they are likely to encounter in their professional life. The positive feedback on the session from interns and faculty led to the conclusion that this approach could usefully be adopted by other medical schools, through the development of a video and training materials.