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Relationships Between Physicians and Industry — A Survey

Physician-industry relationships are pervasive in the U.S.

To what extent do physicians have relationships with the pharmaceutical and device industries? To answer this question, researchers mailed a survey to more than 3000 U.S. physicians, half of whom responded. Six specialties — anesthesiology, cardiology, family practice, general surgery, internal medicine, and pediatrics — were represented.

The physicians were asked what they had received from drug and device companies during the past year. The 10 possible answers were aggregated into four general categories: 78% reported receiving free drug samples; 83% received gifts (especially food in the workplace); 35% received reimbursements for expenses (including costs of attending meetings); and 28% received payments for consulting, speaking, or enrolling patients in clinical trials. Physicians in solo or group practices were much more likely to report having these relationships than physicians employed by hospitals and clinics. Cardiologists were more likely than other physicians to receive payments for consulting, speaking, or enrolling patients in clinical trials. Family physicians reported the highest rate of meetings with industry representatives (average, 16 meetings/month), with other specialties all reporting 10 or fewer meetings per month.

Comment: Physicians may disagree about the extent to which relationships with industry influence medical care, the benefit or harm resulting from that influence, and the overall ethical propriety of each type of relationship. But one thing, confirmed by this study, is clear: Physician-industry relationships are pervasive in the U.S.

— Allan S. Brett, MD

Published in Journal Watch General Medicine April 25, 2007

Citation(s):

Campbell EG et al. A national survey of physician–industry relationships. N Engl J Med 2007 Apr 26; 356:1742-50.

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