Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15693

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Publication type: news

Haxton N.
Drug company sponsorship of psychiatry congress raises concerns
ABC PM 2009 May 25
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2580360.htm

Full text:

MARK COLVIN: The medical debate about drug company sponsorship came to a head at the nation’s peak psychiatry conference in Adelaide today.

Some senior psychiatrists have boycotted the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ annual congress.

They say they’re concerned about the increasing interference of drug companies in their profession.

Seven pharmaceutical companies are sponsors of the conference; there are four industry-sponsored sessions.

Some psychiatrists say drug company marketing is overly aggressive and affects patient care.

But conference organisers say they need the sponsorship deals to cover costs.

Nance Haxton reports.

NANCE HAXTON: Dr Jon Jureidini is the head of psychological medicine at the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The well known trauma expert is boycotting this year’s annual congress of his fellow psychiatrists, because of his concerns about pharmaceutical company sponsorship.

JON JUREIDINI: I think it’s hard to find an example of continuing medical education in the post graduate setting that doesn’t have some drug company involvement in it.

I think the Federal Government need to take leadership on this. I don’t think we can look to doctors to self regulate and we certainly can’t look to the pharmaceutical industry to self-regulate, because their primary responsibility is to turn a profit and we can’t expect them to turn away from marketing efforts that actually are productive.

NANCE HAXTON: Dr Jureidini says he’s one of a growing number of medical professionals who are expressing their fears that drug company sponsorship has gone too far.

JON JUREIDINI: I think there are stands being taken across the world. The last British equivalent meeting was held without drug company sponsorship. The Americans are I think planning not to have industry sponsored symposia in their congresses in future. So we’re not alone in calling for changes.

NANCE HAXTON: Professor Malcolm Battersby is the professor of psychiatry at the Flinders University Medical School.

He resigned as the convenor of the annual psychiatry congress when the local college branch’s idea of having minimal drug company sponsorship was rejected by the national body.

MALCOLM BATTERSBY: It’s been such an entrenched relationship between the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry that doctors themselves don’t realise it’s a problem. You know, from perceptions from the public and outside it’s just been part of culture.

So what we’re hoping is that medical colleges and medical schools will ban any relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the colleges in relation to medical education.

NANCE HAXTON: The President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Professor Ken Kirkby, would not be interviewed by PM, but issued the following statement regarding the issue of drug sponsorship of the annual congress.

(Excerpt from statement)

KEN KIRKBY (voiceover): The primary reason for doing so is to raise money to defray costs associated with holding congress, and to derive a surplus to support the good works of the college as a not-for-profit entity.

Additionally it provides an opportunity for delegates to apprise themselves of what industry has to offer.

The college is mindful of public concerns and the published literature regarding influence of sponsorship, and marketing generally, on treatment and prescribing practices. The Scientific Program is organised independently of sponsorship. There is a diversity of opinion regarding sponsorship across the college and within general council, as befits an important area of ethics.

(End of excerpt)

NANCE HAXTON: The college has developed ethical guidelines on the relationship between psychiatrists and the health care industry.

But Professor Battersby says the pressure from pharmaceutical companies to prescribe their products is becoming more pronounced and psychiatrists need to take a stand.

MALCOLM BATTERSBY: What we want to do is separate that completely from funding from pharmaceutical companies who do things like provide speakers, they provide registration fees for psychiatrists, they’ve exhibition fees, they’ve sponsors fees, they contribute to the college, so the actual college is financial dependent on pharmaceutical sponsorship.

So the buy off or the pay off for them is that they have involvement directly and indirectly in medical education which then influences market share for them and has a potential to cause harm.

NANCE HAXTON: One of the major sponsors of the congress, Eli Lilly, would not comment.

MARK COLVIN: Nance Haxton.