Healthy Skepticism Library item: 12898

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

Moynihan R.
Doctors’ education: the invisible influence of drug company sponsorship
BMJ 2008 Feb 23; 336:(7641):416-417
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/336/7641/416?etoc

Abstract:

We’ve all been there-the educational seminars, the medical symposiums, and the scientific conferences generously sponsored by big drug companies. The visible signs of sponsorship at these events are obvious: the smiling drug company representatives, the colourful company logos, and the high tech stalls in the exhibit halls. But what about inside lecture theatres, where high quality education is delivered to doctors by respected speakers? Surely the sponsors have no input into those sacred places of independent education?

It seems that invisible influence may be flowing through these sponsored seminars-even those accredited by august associations-far more often than many of us realise. In a rare look behind the scenes of sponsored medical education, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Background Briefing programme (www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/) will this weekend show that it is not uncommon for drug company sponsors to suggest speakers at sessions that are assumed by the thousands of general practitioners who . .