Should Drug Companies Sponsor Continuing Medical Education?
June 27th, 2007
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Drug companies are funding nearly two-third of CME sessions which doctors must attend in order to keep their license, and this raises some serious conflict of interest claims.
Overall, commercial sponsors pick up about half of the $2.25 billion annual cost of the courses doctors must attend to keep their licenses.
“Most of what doctors know about drugs comes from the industry, and that’s not healthy,” said Jerry Avorn, a Harvard Medical School professor and critic of the sponsorships. “Academic organizations lend their names to courses that are nothing more than infomercials.”
I think this is a fair claim. While drug industry can claim that they are merely sponsoring the program and not directing it, the very fact that they are interested in funding academic conferences shows that they think they can derive commercial benefit from it. While that may by itself be unexceptionable, should CME sessions which are essentially held to ensure that doctors follow and implement the latest scientific adnvaces in their practice–and benefit the consumer, be funded by a party which has huge commercial stakes in the system?
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