Is the relationship between pharma and medical education on the rocks?

doi:10.1136/bmj.a925

Published 14 August 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a925
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a925

Feature

Sponsorship of Medical Education

Is the relationship between pharma and medical education on the rocks?

Ray Moynihan, visiting editor, BMJ, and conjoint lecturer

¹ University of Newcastle

Ray.moynihan@newcastle.edu.au

Related article: doi, 10.1136/bmj.a1023

How much longer will medicine’s flagship educational eventsfly the colours of the drug industry, asks Ray Moynihan

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

In the heart of Manhattan Island one misty morning a few yearsback, I watched as hundreds of psychiatrists streamed into theirflagship educational event, the annual congress. ¹ Even beforearriving they were welcomed by giant advertising billboardson the streets outside, plastered with the name of a major sponsor,Pfizer, the biggest drug company in the world and the makerof Zoloft, the world’s top selling antidepressant. Onceinside, their first port of call was the huge exhibition hall,where well dressed salespeople moved among the high tech boothsand hypnotic neon, exchanging pleasantries with doctors liningup to play video games and win prizes. And then, of course,there were the sponsored educational sessions. That year—2004—psychiatristslearnt about bipolar disorder over breakfast at the MarriottMarquis Hotel, courtesy of Eli Lilly. Over lunch at the GrandHyatt they studied maternal depression, thanks to GlaxoSmithKline,and for dinner it . . . [Full text of this article]

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