E-DRUG: No privacy.... Drug reps know all
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Further to Ric Day's posting about drug reps having information about the
prescribing habits of physicians. Here in Canada pharmacies have been
selling prescribing information to IMS which then compiles and analyzes the
information and sells it to the drug companies for use by their sales
forces. Up until sometime in 1995 all of this was going on secretly, i.e.,
physicians were unaware of this practice. Since then there have been a
number of stories in the media about this and the Canadian Medical
Association has come up with guidelines which essentially state that
physicians prescribing data should not be sold and used without the
expressed consent of each individual doctor. In Ontario the pharmacists'
organization has sat on the fence neither condoning nor condemning this
practice. IMS has remained resistant to changing its practices. Besides
B.C. the only other province where this practice is forbidden is in Quebec.
Scrip has had a few stories about similar goings on in some European
countries.
Joel
Joel Lexchin MD
121 Walmer Rd.
Toronto, Ontario
CANADA M5R 2X8
Phone: (416)-964-7186
Fax: (416)-923-9515
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