The strange becomes familiar

The American Medical Student Association's campaign is inspired in part by the work of the New York based No Free Lunch, which boasts the motto “Just say no to drug reps,” hosts a pen amnesty,2 and, together with an Australian group called Healthy Skepticism, is urging doctors to turn away from industry backed education and information, towards independent materials.3 According to No Free Lunch, “Our quarrel is not with the pharmaceutical industry but with pharmaceutical industry promotion. The time has come to eliminate its influence from our practices.” These small campaigns are indications of a fundamental redefinition of the relationships between doctors and drug companies, as professional associations, standard setting bodies, and individual institutions around the world begin to disentangle some of the unhealthy flows of money and influence (box).