E-DRUG: BMJ updates - drug promotion
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[Please find below some updates on news stories and other pieces related to the promotion of medicines that have appeared in the BMJ over the past month or so. Any original text copied as Fair Use. DB]
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Generic drug firm settles claim that it was paid to stay out of market
BMJ 2015; 350 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h2282 (Published 28 April 2015)
A big manufacturer of generic drugs [Teva] has had to pay $512m (£340m; â¬470m) to settle a claim that it took payments in various guises from the drug company Cephalon in exchange for not producing a cheap generic version of the company's best selling drug [modafinil; Provigil].
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Margaret McCartney: Forever indebted to pharma doctors must take control of our own education
BMJ 2015; 350 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h1965
(Published 13 April 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h1965
As a student 20 years ago I failed to realise that the sandwiches at the lunchtime meetings were a lure, organised by the suited rep hovering at the back. Big pharma was ingrained throughout postgraduate education, and this continues even now. Every week I get invitations to local hotels with the offer of a buffet meal and a free talk from a local consultant, all organised and paid for by the drug industry. But we know that doctors' exposure to pharma sponsored literature is associated with higher prescribing frequency, higher cost, or lower prescribing quality.1 The money that industry spends on wooing doctors with free education is, of course, calculated to yield profitable returns. Paying our own way would enable doctors to regain control.
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At these events it's also often unclear what vested interests speakers have until they flash a slide at the start of their talks. We should insist on seeing a full declaration of potential conflicts and sponsors before we sign up.
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Taking back our educational agenda means that we can insist on value for money. GPs are especially prone to educational events organised by the drug industry, with invited consultants whose extensive knowledge is scarcely relevant for the audience.
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Doctors all want to advocate for patients, to be trusted and relied on. But the independence that this requires comes at a price. We need to get doctors' education under our control; there is no other option. We are going to have to start paying our own way.
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Drug companies in US spent millions pushing for weight loss drug approvals, investigative report finds
BMJ 2015; 350 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h2138
(Published 22 April 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h2138
Since 2010, makers of diet drugs have spent more than $60m (£40m; â¬56m) on lobbying, medical society sponsorships, and payments to physicians to get their weight loss drugs to the market, says a joint investigative report by the medical news website MedPage Today and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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At least $4m of industry money went to medical societies, $3.2m of which went in 2013 to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists' accounting for 30% of its revenue for that year, the report said. It added, 'In 2012, the group had released a position statement on obesity that urged clinicians to recognize obesity as a disease.'
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dr.douglasball@yahoo.co.uk
E-DRUG Co-Moderator