Drugmakers should disclose U.S. doctor perks, experts tell congressional panel

Drugmakers should disclose U.S. doctor perks, experts tell congressional
panel

Wednesday, June 27, 2007 0749 PDT

CHICAGO, Illinois - Drugmakers vying to entice physicians to use their
products with trips to exotic locales and other perks should be required to
disclose such gifts, experts told a congressional panel Wednesday.

Pharmaceutical companies spend at least $25 billion annually in marketing -
much of it to doctors to influence prescribing habits. At the same time,
companies fund the bulk of the clinical research to expand and approve new
treatments, which advocates said taints patient care.

"I intend to vigorously pursue stronger adherence to these guidelines, as
well as propose a national registry to require disclosure of payments and
gifts," Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl said at the Washington hearing
which was also broadcast on the Internet.

"We need transparency, at the minimum and at the outset," said Kohl who is
chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

"Doctors think they are exempt from this (marketing). But it seems unlikely
that the pharmaceutical companies would be catering to the culinary and
travel needs of doctors if they didn't think they were getting a bang for
their buck," Peter Lurie of the consumer group Public Citizen told the
hearing.

Guidelines governing gifts to doctors laid down by professional societies
representing both physicians and drug companies are now voluntary, and
critics say, ineffective.

A handful of states have laws on disclosure, though many have loopholes. For
example, many exempt free drug samples.

Dr. Robert Sade, head of the American Medical Association's panel on ethics,
said his group has not taken a position on mandatory or national disclosure
but defended some gifts, including free samples.


GIFTS

The AMA code requires that gifts accepted must mainly benefit patients and
be of modest value, with no strings attached.

Majorie Powell, senior assistant general counsel at the Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America, the trade group for the drug
industry, said its code mirrors that of the AMA.

Drugmakers play a vital role in educating doctors about new treatments and
free samples benefit patients who cannot afford drugs, Powell said.

Sen. Clare McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, lamented the increasingly lengthy
footnotes attached to most major medical studies delineating financial ties
between researchers and drugmakers.

"What I am worried about is the research that is going on that is not
getting published, because the results are not what the (drugmakers)
wanted," McCaskill told the hearing, carried by Webcast.

A recent controversy about the safety of the diabetes pill Avandia
highlighted this problem, as GlaxoSmithKline Plc had not published some
trial data suggesting an increase in heart risk associated with the drug.

"Whether or not these conflicts influence the science is the critical
question," said Dr. Jerome Kassirer, a professor at Tufts University School
of Medicine, and former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.