Doctors and drug companies

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• Format Audio, Texts
• Target Audience Self-directed learning
• EBM Stage 3 - Appraising evidence
• Duration <5 mins
• Difficulty Introductory

Key Concepts addressed

• 1-3a Beware of conflicting interests

Details

‘No one knows the total amount provided by drug companies to physicians, but I estimate from the annual reports of the top nine US drug companies that it comes to tens of billions of dollars a year. By such means, the pharmaceutical industry has gained enormous control over how doctors evaluate and use its own products. Its extensive ties to physicians, particularly senior faculty at prestigious medical schools, affect the results of research, the way medicine is practiced, and even the definition of what constitutes a disease.’

Angell M. Drug companies & doctors: a story of corruption. New York Review of Books, January 15, 2009.

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