Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13603
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
Alpert JS.
Doctors and the drug industry: how can we handle potential conflicts of interest?
Am J Med 2005 Feb; 118:(2):99-100
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0002-9343(04)00751-X
Abstract:
The relationship between the doctor and the druggist or apothecary has been the subject of satire for hundreds of years. Moliere, in his play, The Imaginary Invalid, skewers both professions who seek to exploit the hypochondriac, Argan, the imaginary invalid. In the play, both the physician and the apothecary fleece the patient for their own economic benefit. Centuries later, Sinclair Lewis, in his novel, Arrowsmith, portrayed similar unscrupulous partnerships between doctors and druggists or device manufacturers, whose goal was to profit at the expense of patients. Twenty-first century reverberations of these alliances may be the connections between doctors and giant pharmaceutical corporations. Recently in the U.S., Congress and the media have taken a great interest in these relationships and the potential for abuse. Many people feel that these liaisons represent potential conflicts of interest that influence the high price of pharmaceutical agents in the U.S…
Keywords:
Publication Types:
Editorial
MeSH Terms:
Conflict of Interest*
Drug Industry*
Ethics, Professional
Health Policy*
Humans
Internet
Physicians/economics
Physicians/ethics
Registries/statistics & numerical data*
United States
