Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11569

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

Houx K.
Medical groups, state senator seek drug company disclosures
KC Community News (Kansas City) 2007 Sep 5
http://www.kccommunitynews.com/articles/2007/09/05/wednesday_sun/news/c-ws-news-medical.groups.txt

Full text:

Pending legislation could require drug companies to disclose donations and gifts to doctors and medical students. Sen. Claire McCaskill and a cadre of medical students and physicians support the initiative.

Locally, Truman Medical Center-Lakewood no longer allows pharmaceutical representatives into the complex. Dr. Steve Griffith, teacher and Department of Community and Family Medicine chairman, said staff decided to go “pharmfree,” removing the influence of pharmaceutical companies and teaching medical students to be skeptical.

“At first, we thought we needed to train our students because we know they will deal with drug company reps as soon as they graduate,” Griffith said. “Some worried about how we could teach students about new drugs because drug reps brought in samples and information. Unfortunately, that is all biased. We have learned they can learn through unbiased journals.”

Pharmaceutical companies have come under fire for their gift-giving practices, including expensive meals and vacations for physicians under the guise of educating doctors about medications. There are also smaller gifts such as pens and paper.

“Now, I provide the pens,” Griffith said.

s for samples, Griffith cautioned that doctors and residents can be fooled into writing prescriptions for expensive name brand drugs.

“As a facility that offers compassionate care, we can help with indigent care, which can come with free medicines,” he said. “We were really fortunate when a major chain decided to offer $4 generics. We know this might have been serendipity. We needed our residents to see that samples are a false economic freebie because the patients who can pay end up paying.”

McCaskill spoke to several medical school professors and students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Medical School Aug. 28.

McCaskill, a member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, has joined Committee Chairman Herb Kohl in drafting legislation that would create a national registry where pharmaceutical companies would be required to disclose all gifts and payments made to physicians, hospitals and academic institutions.

McCaskill said this sort of transparency would reduce many conflicts of interest that have become part of the business of medicine.

The American Medical Student Association supports McCaskill’s bill and other efforts, such as hospitals creating pharmfree policies that prohibit or limit drug company representatives.

Roseann Cyriac, a UMKC fifth-year medical student, serves as the legislative representative for the medical student association.

“Patients pay for these perks,” she said. “The drug companies are essentially spending about $10,000 per doctor in this country to court us, which is a bit much. We need policies like Lakewood’s.”

The national group represents about 68,000 doctors-in-training. To help these students make better, unbiased decisions, the association has partnered with The Medical Letter Inc., an independent, peer-reviewed, nonprofit organization that offers unbiased drug evaluations to physicians and other health professionals.

“I really believe this will become another aspect added to the ethics of doctors,” Cyriac said. “We talk about how we define what it means to be a doctor. I figure policies in place and medical students adhering to these ideals will improve doctors’ standings in patients’ eyes.”

McCaskill said she feels proud of UMKC and the medical students who seek ways to distance themselves from drug reps.

“Drug reps are not evil or bad, but they want to sell more of their name-brand drugs,” she said. “We need to see doctors who are allowing patients to find the best medicine at the best cost and to be most effective to their patients rather than swayed by drug companies.”

Drug companies spend an estimated $15 billion to $19 billion annually on advertisements to persuade patients to ask for specific drugs. They also spend billions on courting doctors.

McCaskill expects a companion bill in the House of Representatives.

“It is about public information,” McCaskill said. “It is consumer information. We have to disclose donations as politicians. However, this will be the chance for the public to evaluate their doctors. The information should be straightforward and allow the patients to take that critical look.

“I really see this as the beginning of health care reform.”