Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1760
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
Clarke T.
Drugmakers Plan New Rules to Cut Perks for Doctors
Reuters 2002 Apr 19
Full text:
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The wining and dining of doctors by pharmaceutical sales reps may be drawing to an end, amid rising concern that physicians are prescribing drugs based on rewards rather than scientific merit.
US and European drugmakers are revising their codes of ethics to ban their drug reps from paying doctors for such entertainment as golf outings, Broadway plays and baseball games, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) plans to implement the new code by July 1, the person said. Under the new guidelines, sales reps will no longer be able to pay for sporting events or other entertainment. Dinners will be capped at about $75 per doctor and require the presence of a third party—an expert on the topic under discussion.
“There has been much attention paid recently to company marketing practices and we are certainly aware of the criticism,” said Jeffrey Trewhitt, a spokesman for PhRMA. “We think there are some very valid concerns and as an industry we are looking at ways to address them.” Trewhitt would not comment when asked about the current discussions.
Similar codes of ethics have been in place in the drug industry since 1990. PhRMA and the American Medical Association drafted guidelines after legal action was taken against several drug companies for blatant bribery attempts, such as issuing frequent flyer miles in return for prescriptions.
The latest revisions are an attempt to put teeth into regulations that have become all but irrelevant, industry experts said. The American Medical Association is taking similar steps, and spending $1 million, to dust off its own rules.
“It has become clear in folks’ minds that a lot of people have come into the industry since 1990 when the guidelines were approved and aren’t as up to speed as they should be,” said Andrew Thomas, assistant medical director at Ohio State University Hospital and a member of the AMA’s working group on gifts to doctors.
A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health research group, found that 61% of doctors claimed to have received meals, tickets to events or free travel. Of the $15.7 billion drug companies spent promoting drugs in 2000, $13.2 billion went to promotions targeting physicians, the report said.
Some viewed the drug industry’s plans with skepticism.
“The problem is the AMA and PhRMA haven’t made efforts to determine which abuses are going on or to punish violators,” said Sidney Wolfe, head of the health research group at Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group. Paulo Costa, chief executive of Novartis AG’s US drug unit, said his firm allows sales people to give the occasional free doughnut to doctors, but bans expensive gifts.
“How can you justify a drug company taking doctors to a basketball game or a golf outing? Why do we need to do it when it provides little benefit to doctors but leaves drug companies open for criticism.”
The incentives the drug industry provides can be lavish.
“A few weeks ago I was asked by a pharma company to be an advisor at a seminar,” said Dr. Rene Mora, a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “They offered to pay for my flight, put me up at a hotel, feed me and pay me an honorarium. They even invited my wife.
“That type of stuff, where physicians are getting free vacations or trips, that’s where a lot of people say you’ve got to draw the line,” he said.
