Healthy Skepticism Library item: 3914

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

Ritter J.
Medical students say no to drug firm gifts
Chicago Sun Times 2006 Mar 30
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-drugs30.html

Notes:

Ralph Faggotter’s Comments:

There appears to be the first signs of an ethical revolution in Medicine, and, much to the shame of many professional represenatative bodies, it is starting with the youngest members of the profession.

Full text:

Medical students say no to drug firm gifts

March 30, 2006

BY JIM RITTER Health Reporter
Advertisement

If medical students like Jonathan Pak represent the future of medicine, the pharmaceutical industry’s multi-billion dollar marketing machine may be in trouble.

Pak is saying “no” to all the goodies drug companies lavish on the medical profession, beginning in med school.

The third-year Temple University student refuses free lunches at his Philadelphia hospital. He won’t accept free textbooks or stethoscopes, or even pens advertising brand-name drugs. The pen Pak uses says “PharmFREE.”

DOCTORS’ RULES

The American Medical Student Association takes a harder line against drug industry marketing than the leading doctors’ group, the American Medical Association.

Here’s a sampling of each association’s voluntary guidelines:

American Medical Association: Doctors may accept “modest” meals and gifts related to their work, such as pens, notepads, textbooks and stethoscopes “in the general range of $100.” Doctors also may accept “reasonable” speakers’ fees.

Not allowed: cash payments, junkets and any gifts with strings attached

American Medical Student Association: Doctors, residents and med students should not accept any promotional gifts. Hospitals should discontinue industry-funded lectures and luncheons. Doctors should not accept speakers’ fees or money for “token consulting or advising.”

Jim Ritter

Pak vows that when he becomes a doctor, he won’t have any dealings with drug reps. In the meantime, he is participating in a counter-marketing campaign. Pak and other med students are visiting doctors’ offices and urging physicians to learn about drugs from objective scientific sources, rather than from drug reps.

“We’ve been very well-received,” Pak said.

The counter-marketing campaign is being run by the American Medical Student Association, which is meeting this week at the Palmer House Hilton.

While still a minority, a growing number of medical students are rejecting industry marketing. More than 5,000 students have taken the PharmFree Pledge, promising to accept no money, gifts or hospitality from the pharmaceutical industry and to not rely on information from drug reps.

Money better spent on research

Unlike many doctors groups, the student association accepts no industry funding for research and education programs, exhibit hall space, advertising, etc. Such marketing expenses increase the cost of drugs, and would be better spent on research and development, said association president Leana Wen of Washington University.

Last year, the association launched its counter-marketing campaign, urging doctors to get drug information from “unbiased” sources such as the Medical Letter and Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs.

“I do not want my patients thinking drug reps are buying me or influencing my prescribing habits,” Wen said.

However, Ken Johnson of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said it would be a “big mistake” for doctors to ignore sales reps, who “work for the companies that spend 10 to 15 years developing each new drug.”

Younger group pushes change

Drug companies have the most information about new drugs, and sales reps “are well-trained technically and prepared to answer doctors’ questions about side effects and proper use of drugs,” Johnson said.

Moreover, Johnson said, the industry is promoting voluntary guidelines to ensure ethical sales practices. And, each sales rep “must comply with strict FDA regulations.”

About two-thirds of the nation’s medical students belong to the American Medical Student Association. While some doctors also have questioned drug industry marketing, the student association has been more vocal on the issue.

“Throughout history, medical students have pushed the envelope on change,” Wen said. “We went into medical school because we are idealistic. We want to do what is best for our patients.”

jritter@suntimes.com