Industry Payola Under The Gun By Institute of Medicine « Medical Detox Programs in a stress-free environment

May 8, 2009

Industry Payola Under The Gun By Institute of Medicine

Filed under: Big Pharma — Rod Malcolm @ 8:34 am

The prestigious Institute of Medicine has called for a halt to the ‘free lunch’ culture pervading American medicine to end conflicts of interest, recapture independence for the medical profession, and hopefully reduce healthcare costs in the bargain.

All academic medical centers, journals, professional societies, and other entities engaged in health research, education, clinical care, and development of practice guidelines, should establish or strengthen conflict-of-interest policies, says a massive report from the country’s prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Titled “Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice”, the 353-page document appears on the heels of numerous reports from around the country calling for similar reforms, including Congressional investigations into big-name university professors, drug and device researchers, and pharma marketing practices that include gifts and payments that risk conflicts of interest.

Proponents of most aspects of payola, primarily Big Pharma and its well-rewarded medical “consultants”, both in universities and private practice, insist that there’s no conflict of interest, and that gifts, trips, dinners, lunches and outright cash payments are all in the interest of continuing product education and patient care.

But according to its press release announcing the report, the Institute takes the opposite view: “New voluntary and regulatory measures can strengthen protections against financial conflicts of interest in medicine without hindering patient care or the advancement of medical knowledge,” says the first sentence of the release.

“It is time to end a number of long-accepted practices that create unacceptable conflicts of interest, threaten the integrity of the medical profession, and erode public trust while providing no meaningful benefits to patients or society,” said Dr. Bernard Lo, chair of the committee that wrote the report.

Dr. Lo, professor of medicine and director of medical ethics at University of California, San Francisco, said a more specific disclosure of the financial relationships that doctors and researchers have with the medical products industry is needed. “This report spells out a strategy to protect against financial conflicts while allowing productive relationships between the medical community and industry that contribute to improved medical knowledge and care,” Dr. Lo said.

Some members of Congress are already calling for such transparency, and have proposed legislation to enforce it. The Physician Payment Sunshine Act of 2009 could become law this year, while several states have already adopted new regulations requiring disclosure of gifts and payments to physicians and medical educators.

Medical Detox Programs in a stress-free environment

May 8, 2009

Industry Payola Under The Gun By Institute of Medicine

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