Healthy Skepticism Library item: 6645

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: book

Schimm DS, Spece RG, Digregorio M.
Conflicts of interest in relationships between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry
New York: Oxford University Press 1996

Abstract:

Manufacturers can try to influence physicians to use or prescribe their products by offering gifts, payment for consulting, honoraria for presentations and subsidies or hospitality for physicians attending conferences; sponsoring continuing medical education; making direct payments to clinician-investigators for performing research; marketing products via advertisements and personal detailing; and lobyying regulators and legislators. This chapter surveys the major practices used by manufacturers to influence physician behaviour and discusses how this introduces conflicts of interest into relationships among patients, physicians, the biomedical industry and the public. The chapter uses the manufacture of coagulation factor concentrates for hemophiliacs as a case study that illustrates the pervasive influence of pharmaceutical companies. Finally, the chapter suggests reforms to the be considered in response to theese conflicts of interest.

Keywords:
*analysis/United States/United Kingdom/ conflict of interest/ reimbursement to doctors/ agency role/ doctor-patient relationship/ drug company sponsored research/ relationship between researchers, academic institutions and industry/ corporate funding/CME/continuing medical education/quality of information/gift giving/regulation of promotion/FDA/Food and Drug Administration/quality of prescribing//journal advertisements/sales representatives/profit motive/ad revenue/scientific publications/coagulation factor concentrates/safety & risk information/doctors/ industrial physicians/ETHICAL ISSUES IN PROMOTION: GIFT GIVING/ETHICAL ISSUES IN PROMOTION: PAYMENTS IN STUDIES/EVALUATION OF PROMOTION: DETAILING/EVALUATION OF PROMOTION: JOURNAL ADVERTISEMENTS/INFLUENCE OF PROMOTION: DOCTOR-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP/INFLUENCE OF PROMOTION: PRESCRIBING, DRUG USE/PROMOTION DISGUISED: SUPPORT FOR CME/REGULATION, CODES, GUIDELINES: DIRECT GOVERNMENT REGULATION/REGULATION, CODES, GUIDELINES: HEALTH PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS/SPONSORSHIP: RESEARCH