Report calls for end of drug promotion to doctors

Product promotion among doctors by drug companies and medical device manufacturers should be virtually eliminated, and remaining research and educational ties should become completely transparent, a new report from the US Institute of Medicine recommends.

The institute’s president, Harvey Fineberg, said that the report “sets a new standard for comprehensiveness” across the spectrum of activity—from research and treatment guidelines to education and training of healthcare professionals and regular clinical practice.

He said he was particularly pleased that the report focuses on “prevention and anticipation, as opposed simply to responding after the fact to these problems.”

Bernard Lo, a medical ethicist at the …