Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13753

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

Goldstein J.
Minnesota Doctors: No Free Frozen Yogurt for You!
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog 2008 Jun 1
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/06/01/minnesota-doctors-no-free-frozen-yogurt-for-you/?mod=yahoo_hs

Full text:

Amid the giant flat-panel monitors in the vast exhibit hall at a meeting of cancer doctors in Chicago, a few small signs warn that the seemingly endless drug company freebies aren’t for everyone.

Where Eli Lilly is giving away frozen yogurt, for example, a plain white sign (the only plain thing in Lilly’s elaborate booth) says:

Food, beverages and/or meals will not be provided by Eli Lilly and Company for the following parties:

• Physicians and individuals with prescribing authority in Minnesota in order to comply with Minnesota statutes

• Government employees in New York (both city and state) in order to comply with New York statutes

Drug company gifts to physicians have come under scrutiny nationwide in recent years, with arguments in some quarters that the freebies encourage docs to prescribe expensive, brand-name drugs when cheaper generics would be equally effective. A Minnesota law prohibits companies from giving gifts worth over $50 a year to docs.

Health Blog colleague Peter Loftus, in town to cover the American Society of Clinical Oncology for Dow Jones Newswires, saw the sign and talked to Eli Lilly to learn more. “We want to make sure we’re doing all the right things according to state regulations,” spokeswoman Amy Sousa told him, adding that she wasn’t aware of any doctors Minnesotans actually being turned away.

No, a small cup of yogurt isn’t worth $51. But it’s simpler for Lilly sales reps to keep track of gifts to doctors they call on, rather than trying to keep tabs on all the docs coming through for a treat between meetings, Sousa suggested.

Nearby, where Novartis was giving away soapstone bowls carved in Kenya, a sign noted that Minnesotans, members of a Medicare committee, and state and federal employees “may be subjected to restrictions on acceptance of food, beverages or items.”

Still, we’re not too worried about the Minnesota docs going without. There seemed to be plenty of booths giving away treats to all comers.