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IMH Happenings

3/15/2007

Doctors and Drug Companies: Conflict of Interest?
KUHT Public Radio Houston, March 12, 2007

HOUSTON — If you wait around long enough at nearly any doctor's office or hospital, there's a good chance you'll see a pharmaceutical rep hauling in a case of drug samples along with a couple of pizzas for lunch. It's a fact of life for both doctors and drug reps, an understanding that freebies sometimes equal a few minutes of face time with doctors. It's an uneasy relationship that critics say is ripe for conflict of interest, where doctors prescribe drugs from companies they have relationships with. Dr. Howard Brody of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston says some doctors are blinded by what he calls "self-deceit," believing they're not influenced by drug company gifts. He says one solution to the conflict of interest problem would be to funnel research money through a neutral agency instead of having it come directly from the drug company to research physicians. You could still have new research. You could still have new drugs. The companies could still make a very nice profit but we wouldn't have this problem that we of the control of the information flow being so vested in the hands of the industry.

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