Big pharma comes to med school - for a nice talk

We had a provocative session at school last week regarding the role of big pharma in medicine - mostly discussing the ethical considerations of direct-consumer marketing of drugs and the ever-more aggressive marketing to doctors.

Drug companies spend millions of dollars trying to persuade doctors to use their product, and they are not shy in their methods. It is commonplace today that drug companies provide free lunches or coffee during grand rounds, small gifts like stationary stuff, huge gifts like trips to the Bahamas for a symposium on the products, large gifts like tickets to big name sporting and musical events or green fees a golf course. And even if there are no gifts, every doctor, resident, and medical student has seen a drug company sales rep lurking around the clinic or hospital. Many of them make visits several times a week.

So one of the panelists worked for Merck. His main defense was that we, as medical students, should not prematurely shut any doors to gaining information about drugs. We should keep an open mind and be critical of all information - not just that coming from the drug companies. It is a actually a very familiar argument made by the tobacco and firearms industries: the government should not legislate behavior since ultimately it is up to every individual to make responsible judgments.