Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13724

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

Burton B.
Australian drug industry seeks to improve its image
BMJ 2008 Apr 19; 336:(7649):850
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/336/7649/850-a

Abstract:

Australia’s leading drug industry lobby group, Medicines Australia, is canvassing options on how to counter what it describes as “challenges” to its “credibility and trust.” The move comes after new rules were introduced making it mandatory for drug companies to publicly disclose details of their involvement in meetings and conferences for doctors (BMJ 2008;336:742; doi: 10.1136/bmj.39535.488299.DB).

The lobby group’s annual one day “members only” conference included presentations from an ethicist on “ethical conduct,” a public relations adviser on “shaping a new image,” and a market researcher on “moral responsibility and corporate reputation.”

In the conference programme the group’s chief executive, Ian Chalmers, wrote that “there are serious issues of reputation and trust that we need to address.” In an interview with the BMJ he was more circumspect. “I’m not conceding that we have a serious reputation problem,” he said, “but we have a responsibility to make sure we . . .