$ How Pharmaceutical Companies Use Enticement to 'Educate' Physicians $

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Wednesday, April 03, 2002 11:29 PM

$ How Pharmaceutical Companies Use Enticement to

'Educate' Physicians $

 

 

Laura Lee News - How Pharmaceutical Companies Use Enticement to 'Educate'

Physicians- http://www.lauralee.com/news/pharmenticement.htm -

 

How Pharmaceutical Companies Use Enticement to 'Educate' Physicians

By Brian Ross and David W. Scott

 

It was doctors' night out last June at the world-renowned Museum of Modern

Art in New York City, and the Saturday night party, put on by Pfizer Inc.,

was lavish. The event was strictly private, closed to reporters, as the

pharmaceutical company entertained a very select list of doctors and their

guests.

But Primetime's undercover cameras saw the kind of big-money splurge that

some say drives up the cost of prescription drugs and corrupts the practice

of medicine. Further investigation into the $6 billion spent by drug

companies for what they say is a way to educate doctors showed that tactics

like lavish gifts and trips are surprisingly common.

" It's embarrassing, it's extravagant and it's unethical, " said Dr. Arnold

Relman, a Harvard Medical School professor and the former editor of the New

England Journal of Medicine. " It makes the doctor feel beholden . it suborns

the judgment of the doctor. "

But doctors seemed thrilled to have been invited for a weekend in New York

City with some seminars along the way, with all expenses paid by Pfizer on

behalf of one of its drugs, Viagra.

One Small-Town Doctor: $10,000 in Goodies

Few doctors were willing to talk publicly about their relationships with

pharmaceutical companies, but one upstate New York doctor was willing to

come forward.

" It's very tempting and they just keep anteing it up. And it's getting

harder to say no, " said Dr. Rudy Mueller. " I feel in some ways it's kind of

like bribery. "

Disgusted by how the free gifts and trips add to the high price of medicine,

and moved by the plight of patients forced to skip needed medication,

Mueller agreed to provide Primetime with a rare glimpse of the astounding

number of drug company freebies he was offered by various drug companies in

a four-month period.

He was presented with an estimated $10,000 worth, including an

all-expenses-paid trip to a resort in Florida, dinner cruises, hockey game

tickets, a ski trip for the family, Omaha steaks, a day at a spa and free

computer equipment.

" It changes your prescribing behavior. You just sort of get caught up in

it, " said Mueller, who said he was offered a cash payment of $2,000 for

putting four patients on the latest drug for high cholesterol. The company

called this a clinical study; Mueller called it a bounty.

" I've never been offered money before, " he said. " I don't remember that 10,

15 years ago. "

Though Mueller normally declines the offers, he agreed to attend a dinner,

which Primetime secretly taped. Not only were the doctors wined and dined,

but each was also offered a payment of $150 for just showing up to listen to

a pitch for a new asthma treatment for children.

The company called it " an honorarium, " but Mueller saw it differently.

" Again, it's bribery, " he said. " This is very effective marketing. "

There's a wide range in value of the free gifts offered to doctors - from

lavish trips to free Mother's Day flower bouquets for doctors willing to

hear a pitch about a new osteoporosis medicine.

In the latter example, when asked whether a floral shop was the most

effective place for a discussion on pharmaceuticals, one of the

representatives said, " I'm sorry, we're not allowed to comment on anything. "

Detail Men

The goodies are dispensed by an army of drug company representatives known

as detail men and women, of whom there are 82,000 nationwide.

It's the job of the detail people to quietly befriend doctors, keeping close

track of which doctors take the free gifts and then determining which drugs

the doctors later prescribe.

" I think it's sleaze, " said Relman. " Anybody who's been in that position

knows that yes, those gifts, $60, $100, $40, again and again, do influence

your attitude about that company and will influence the prescriptions that

you write. "

And the multibillion-dollar drug company blitz extends throughout the

profession, even at the yearly gathering of one of the most prestigious

medical groups, the American College of Physicians. It was like a carnival:

Doctors could be seen taking free massages, free food, free portraits, free

Walkman players, free basketballs, and from one company pushing a new

antacid drug, free fire extinguishers.

Many doctors say it's no different than any other business or convention,

and that it doesn't affect their medical judgment. But that's not the view

of the new president of the American College of Physicians, Dr. William

Hall, who says anything beyond a pen or a mug could have an impact.

" Whether we like it or not, it can cloud our clinical judgment, " he said.

" Unequivocally, I would say that. "

So why are some of the very practices Hall publicly criticizes permitted at

his group's supposedly scholarly convention? " I think there it's a situation

where every physician is going to have to balance what's right or wrong, "

said Hall.

" We are concerned about it, " he added, saying that at some point the system

may be changed.

But right now, Hall's group receives $2 million a year from the drug

companies to have their exhibition booths at the convention, yet another

example of how the big drug companies spend billions to influence doctors in

this country.

" The basic mistake we're making with our health-care system now is that we

regard it as just another business. And it's clearly not just another

business. Patients, sick patients and worried patients, are not like

ordinary consumers, " said Relman. " Doctors ought to be incorruptible .

That's the doctor's sacred obligation. They're being corrupted and

undermined by this kind of salesmanship. "

 

 

 

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

The solution?

Let's change the Hippocratic Oath, as Nick Regush suggested:

1. Under no circumstances should a physician make deals with drug companies

that might interfere with thorough consideration of potential treatments.

2. Under no circumstances should a physician accept any sort of gift or

favor from a corporation - including items for the medical office.

Drug companies are spending about 15 billion dollars a year on physician

marketing.

Most physicians have no clue that the drug companies are spending (on

average) $10,000 to influence their behavior. They, of course, do not

receive a check, but the perks are quite significant.

They also don't realize that they actually lose that much income and more if

they factor the time they lose by sitting with the drug company reps and

going to their " free " meals and lectures. They are also clueless on what a

fiduciary responsibility is, that they need to carefully analyze the costs

involved in recommending expensive drugs.

Clearly they are sometimes appropriate and can save someone's life. But most

of the time they are unnecessary, cause harm and cause the patient to divert

much of their hard earned income to the drug companies that further

perpetuates this indirect physician subsidy.

One thing these drug companies are not is stupid. There is no way they would

spend $15 billion a year to do this unless they received a significant

return on their investment.

Did I say return on investment?

Yes, I did.

The fact of the matter is that the US alone is spending nearly one trillion

dollars for drugs.

Folks, that is one thousand billion dollars.

The late Senator Everett Dirksen from Illinois was fond of talking about

Defense Department spending by saying " a billion dollars here and a billion

dollars there, and before you know it you are talking about real money. "

You'd better believe that there is plenty of profit in that trillion

dollars.

 

Source: www.mercola.com

The LAURA LEE SHOW - On the Web Since 1995

1995-2001 LL Broadcasting Inc. All rights reserved

Revised: March 28, 2002.

 

 

 

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