Student doctors call for ban on drug company bribes

Medical students in the U.S. are applauding a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which calls for a ban on gifts to doctors from drug companies.

The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), is the nation's largest, independent medical student organization,and represents the doctors of the future.

Founded in 1950 it has a history of over 50 years of student activism, and is the oldest and largest independent association of trainee doctors in the U.S.

The non- profit organization is committed to representing the concerns of physicians-in-training and has 60,000 members, including medical and premedical students, residents and practicing physicians.

The AMSA has been calling for a comprehensive ban on gifts and all marketing efforts to medical professionals since 2002 and the organisations innovative PharmFree campaign has educated and trained thousands of medical students across the country to interact as ethical professionals with the pharmaceutical industry.

Leana S. Wen, AMSA's national president, says the recommendations come none too soon and a ban on all gifts from drug companies is direly needed to maintain objectivity, and foster trust in the doctor patient relationship.

Wen says there is no role for marketing to be masqueraded as education when patients' lives are at stake and has called on physicians to join the medical students, and distinguished academicians, to forgo drug company gifts.

The AMSA says that pharmaceutical companies spend $7.3 billion every year directly marketing to doctors, and that figure does not include free drug samples.

There are presently about 90,000 drug representatives providing free lunches and so- called educational seminars to convince doctors to prescribe the latest, most expensive drugs.

The study says this equates to $13,000 a year per doctor on marketing activities, the costs of which are reflected in drug prices.

These handouts drive up the cost of medications for patients, alter the prescription habits of physicians and are contrary to the professional oath and ethics of acting in the best interest of the patient.

Wen says the nation's future physicians are going one step further and calling for stronger action, including a comprehensive review of the pharmaceutical industry's practices.

Wen is calling for patients and doctors to join forces to combat questionable corporate behavior and ensure the best possible evidence based care is being provided.

AMSA is the only national medical organization to ban all pharmaceutical advertising in its publications and events and has a policy specifically condemning drug industry- sponsored direct-to-consumer advertisements.

The study "Health Industry Practices That Create Conflicts of Interest" is published in Journal of the American Medical Association.