If you ever wondered what the editors of The New York Times (hereinafter, The Times) really think about manufacturer-funded research and education, perhaps this editorial on the new Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) code will help clarify the issue:
None of the steps yet contemplated by industry or professional groups would completely sever the medical profession and many individual doctors from their far more disturbing financial ties to the drug industry.
Over the years, prominent physicians have received hefty fees for conducting research, consulting or giving “educational” speeches touting the virtues of drugs to their colleagues. The new industry code would limit consultants’ fees to “fair market value,” but critics believe that still leaves far too much room to pay individual doctors handsomely.
It is self-revealing that The Times leaves out any mention that if we fail to pay physicians to conduct research, there will be no new drugs for disease we have yet to conquer including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
If industry support for education goes away, there will be little or virtually no education for the roughly 785,000 U.S. physicians who do not have an affiliation to an academic medical center.
The editorial goes on to state that Congress needs to pass legislation that would force all drug and medical device companies to report a wide range of payments to doctors through a national registry so that all conflicts are known. This is a reform that the industry itself now seems willing to accept. Better yet, the medical profession needs to wean itself almost entirely from its pervasive dependence on industry money.
Let us not fool ourselves. Disclosure is simply the first step (though, I believe it is not a bad concept) in the drive to completely sever ties between medicine and manufacturers.
If The Times’ editors and their allies were to be successful, the role of drug development would simply move to a more friendly environment, like China or India, countries that would love to get the high paid research jobs for their countries.
If we were to completely sever all ties with industry, it would be the American patient who would be the one who suffers.
The New York Times Editorial: No Mugs but What About Those Fees