Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1211

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

Gale EA.
Between two cultures: the expert clinician and the pharmaceutical industry.
Clin Med 2003 Nov-Dec; 3:(6):538-41
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/rcop/cm/2003/00000003/00000006/art00015?token=00681f293f7ee784b3143d54e6b63734f582a2f4876753375726f4f2858595c5f3b3b476752486b25707b514a2f425aca8359cca

Abstract:

Expert clinicians, valued for their academic status and independence, are used by the pharmaceutical industry for advice, for contract research, and as a means of conveying their message to other clinicians. Both academics and industry depend upon this interaction, but there is a fundamental clash of cultures at the interface between the two. Independence cannot be marketed for a fee, opinion too easily shades into advocacy, and secrecy and science do not mix. Formal guidelines and declarations of interest are inadequate as a means of policing an interface where undisclosed amounts of money change hands so freely. In the absence of effective sanctions, each of us must seek a personal solution to the professional and ethical issues involved.

Keywords:
Conflict of Interest* Drug Industry/ethics* Health Personnel/ethics* Humans Interprofessional Relations/ethics*