Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14228

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

Rothman DJ, Chimonas S.
New Developments in Managing Physician-Industry Relationships
JAMA 2008 Sep 3; 300:(9):1067
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/300/9/1067

Abstract:

Over the past 2 years, policies governing the relationship between physicians and pharmaceutical and device companies have undergone remarkable changes. A 2004 task force appointed by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation (ABIM) and the Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) found existing guidelines to be lax.1 At that time, the industry’s Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Code ignored many salient issues, such as disclosure, speaker’s bureaus, and ghostwriting and set only modest boundaries around dispensing food, gifts, and travel reimbursements.2 The American Medical Association’s ethical guidelines largely duplicated PhRMA’s; however, on such practices as gift taking, it was even more permissive.3 The American College of Physicians acknowledged the influence of gifts on physician practices but did not prohibit them.4 Government bodies, including the Office of the Inspector General of Health and Human Services, essentially endorsed the PhRMA Code.5 . ..