Last week, the Board of Trustees for the American Psychiatric Association (APA) approved and published its new code of conduct for working with the pharmaceutical industry, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Interestingly, the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS), which the APA is a member of, also recently announced their own code of interaction with industry, but he APA wasn’t among the original 13 adopters of the code.
In announcing the new code of conduct, APA issued a press release regarding the principles and guidelines of the new code, which WSJ believes do not “provide a lot of specifics and reflect a lot of what the APA has already said it would do.” Things such as “focusing on transparency and the need to be clear about what is education and what is marketing.
The importance underlying the new guidelines is significant because the purpose of putting them together Perhaps was “not to eliminate a relationship with Big Pharma, but rather to develop a “collaborative relationship” with industry.” Such relationships are necessary according to APA immediate past president Alan Schatzberg, who convened the task force to develop the guidelines, because “it really is not in anyone’s best interest to shut out an industry voice.”
In agreement with Dr. Schatzberg’s comments, James Scully, CEO of the APA, asserted that the APA “wants a good relationship with the pharmaceutical industry,” because “they have a role to play in developing new drugs.” He clarified that the importance of a policy and code of conduct with industry for the APA should “care less about whether doctors accept pens from drug sales reps and more about the larger issues. As a result, the new code makes it clear that “wants their educational programs to be free of bias.”
Dr. Scully also added that APA is at the forefront of “the entire field of medicine that is moving toward greater transparency in its relationships to industry.”
The new guidelines ensure that the potential for bias is minimal while maintaining a good relationship with industry by “creating greater transparency for APA’s relationships with other organizations and managing potential conflicts of interest among the APA, industry, staff and individuals who serve as elected members of the APA.” This new code also adopts “special guidelines for the committee responsible for developing APA’s Practice Guidelines for the assessment and treatment of specific psychiatric disorders.”
In addition, the new policy also “establishes a new board-level Conflict of Interest Committee, which will oversee the APA’s relationships to outside organizations.” The responsibility of the committee will be to “implement the principles and standards and put into practice policies to support the code of conduct.”
The new standards will also require that any relationships with other organizations that the APA enters into should be consistent with the APA mission and improve the delivery of mental health care. Among the elements endorsed by the board are:
– Financial relationships between developers of educational programs and research activity and outside organizations are to be clearly stated;
– The development by the APA of educational programs, whether or not they provide continuing medical education credits, are to follow the ACCME standards for independent and unbiased presentations; and
– Advertising in APA publications, meetings, or websites does not entail endorsement of any product or manufacturer.
Ultimately, APA’s new policy clearly shows that there is a place for industry support in their organization’s goals. By preserving this relationship in their new guidelines, while calling for more transparency and establishing effective oversight, APA will maintain a good relationship with industry that other medical societies and organizations should begin to adopt, for the benefit of physician education and patient wellbeing.