Doctors and drug companies are locked in "vicious circle"

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7473.998

BMJ 2004;329:998 (30 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7473.998

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Doctors and drug companies are locked in "vicious circle"

Melissa Sweet

Sydney

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A radical new approach to paying drug companies should be introduced—rewardingthem for improving health rather than maximising sales, theUK parliamentary health committee has been told.

The proposal, by Healthy Skepticism, an international watchdoggroup based in Australia that is concerned with misleading drugmarketing, was put to committee members during a week long visitto Australia that ended last week.

The MPs met doctors, academics, and drug companies and othergroups as part of their inquiry into the influence of the drugindustry. They also held meetings related to previous inquiriesinto child migrants and HIV and AIDS.

Dr Peter Mansfield, director of Healthy Skepticism, said ina memorandum given to the MPs that doctors and drug companieswere locked in a "vicious circle," encouraging each other todo the wrong thing.

"If companies overpromote their drugs effectively, doctors rewardthem via higher drug sales," he said. "If . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

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Healthy Skepticism should be careful in linking a demise of drug promotion to better health: Alexander W Gray
bmj.com, 29 Oct 2004 [Full text]
break the vicious cycle.: manan vasenwala
bmj.com, 31 Oct 2004 [Full text]
Reform of incentives would help reduce harm from drug promotion.: Peter R Mansfield
bmj.com, 31 Oct 2004 [Full text]
Drug promotion is unethical: Abhishek Puri
bmj.com, 2 Nov 2004 [Full text]
Virtuous and viscious all men must be, few in the extreme but all to a degree- Pope John Paul II .: Dr. Chandrashekhar S. M.
bmj.com, 31 Oct 2004 [Full text]
teachers are corrupt,why blame new doctors: navin k. modi, et al.
bmj.com, 1 Nov 2004 [Full text]
The pharmaceutical industry cannot be trusted: Jeffrey Mann
bmj.com, 1 Nov 2004 [Full text]
tinkering is not enough: Bob Brecher
bmj.com, 2 Nov 2004 [Full text]
Re: tinkering is not enough: Dr. Herbert H. Nehrlich
bmj.com, 3 Nov 2004 [Full text]
World Health Organisation should have its own drug company: Anoop D Shah
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What practice guidelines are for ?: Takeharu Koga
bmj.com, 2 Feb 2005 [Full text]