… should really stop, writes the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Especially since the grubber in question is the University of Wisconsin’s medical school, which got a million dollars from a drug company to put UW’s good name behind the company’s synthetic testosterone.
Said testosterone is not only of uncertain benefit to men older than 45; it might actually be dangerous. But its maker, Solvay, touted it on a continuing medical education website which offered CME credit to doctors who read articles on the site about it. And, since a real live university sponsored the deal, the medicine looked legit.
Industry funding of continuing medical education should be phased out to avoid conflicts, and Congress should require full disclosure of all industry payments for continuing medical education.
Phasing out industry funding of CME means phasing out CME, at least as we’ve come to know it.
August 18th, 2009 at 10:38AM
Doctors can get CME from Grand Rounds at their hospital, and through books and professional magazines. For instance, "The Medical Letter" is a pharmacology newsletter, which seems to me to be devoid of pharmaceutical company influence. You can get free CME through them. Guest speakers at Grand Rounds used to be sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, and I think probably still are, so this part of Grand Rounds would be gone with the new regulations.
Because the cost of medicines is so high, doctors are losing control of what medicines are prescribed to patients. It’s the patient’s insurance plan formulary list that determines, in large measure, what we can prescribe. So I wonder if pharmaceutical companies would be doing some phasing out on their own, even without new regulations.