New study shows doctors' ties to drug companies still too strong

05/01/2007

Three out of every four doctors accepts drug samples from a drug or medical device rep, a new survey shows, while four out of five receive food or drink while in the white coat.  These findings, published in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine, show a relationship between doctors and the pharmaceutical industry that has only tightened since a voluntary code-of-conduct was put in place in 2002 by the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the national industry lobbying group.

Ninety-four percent of the 1662 doctors who responded said they had a relationship with a pharmaceutical company. Of those, 35 percent received reimbursement for attending a professional meting or education activity, and 28 percent received payment for consulting, speaking fees, or enrolling patients in drug trials. 

“I know it's cliche, but if it didn't work, drug companies wouldn't do it," Dr. David Blumenthal, the principal investigator on the paper told a BNA reporter this week.

The survey, which was funded by Project partner Institute for Medicine as a Profession in New York, found that doctors’ relationship with drug companies varied significantly with specialty and type of practice. 

Family doctors met with drug reps the most—an average of 16 times per month—while pediatricians and anesthesiologists reported having the fewest drug company connections. Cardiologists were more than twice as likely as family physicians to receive payments or consulting fees, and doctors working in hospital or HMO settings met less frequently and received fewer payments and gifts than those in individual or group private practices.

“These findings are fairly disturbing,” Merrill Goozner of the Center for Science in the Public Interest told the Boston Globe. “There appears to be no dialing back at all on these relationships."

The paper, “A National Survey of Physician-Industry Relationships,” was authored by a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School, Yale, and the University of Melbourne and based on responses to 3,167 surveys sent to U.S. doctors in six specialties (anesthesiology, general surgery, cardiology, pediatrics, family medicine, and internists) in 2003 and 2004.
 
Go here to read the full-text article. Go here to read the Prescription Project press release.

Links to additional coverage:
Washington Post
The Wall Street Journal
Framingham Metrowest Daily News