Are doctors and the drug industry too close for comfort?
On 31 May 2003, we published a theme
issue of the BMJ arguing that it was time to untangle doctors from drug
companies. In the week following publication we conducted an online poll, whose
results are listed below.
Final results (after duplicate votes removed), with 1479 people responding:
Doctors and drug industry: too close for comfort?1. Would you like doctors to stop seeing drug company representatives, replacing them with more independent sources of health information?
Yes 79% No 15% Don't know 4% 2. Would you like doctors to stop receiving all forms of direct and indirect gifts from drug companies?
Yes 84% No 13% Don't know 2% 3. Would you like industry-funded education of doctors replaced by education funded by more independent sources?
Yes 84% No 9% Don't know 4% 4. Would you like doctors' professional associations and their peer-reviewed journals to reduce their reliance on industry funding to specified maximum levels?
Yes 85% No 7% Don't know 5% 5. Would you like all financial relationships between doctors and drug companies conducted with transparent contracts that are disclosed to patients and the public?
Yes 96% No 1% Don't know 1% 6. Would you like mechanisms that genuinely create more distance and independence between doctor/researchers and their research sponsors?
Yes 83% No 9% Don't know 5% 7. Would you like government/public agency advisory panels, which are responsible for independent assessment of medical products or health policies, to reduce their reliance on doctors with financial ties to drug companies?
Yes 87% No 6% Don't know 4% 8. Would you like to see these sorts of changes become the basis of a charter for a new relationship between doctors and drug companies?
Yes 90% No 5% Don't know 3%
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