Legislation Could Provide 'Useful Antidote' To Pharmaceutical Industry Influence On Physicians, Editorial States

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 21 Mar 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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Sens. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) plan to introduce a bill that could provide a "potentially useful antidote to drug company influence over the prescribing practices of doctors," a New York Times editorial states. According to the editorial, the legislation would authorize federal grants to prepare educational materials and train health care professionals to "visit doctors to give unbiased guidance on the safety and effectiveness of drugs to counter the one-sided sales pitches they get from pharmaceutical company representatives."

Based on the results of similar programs in Pennsylvania, other states and abroad, the "end result should be better care, quite often at lower cost," and the senators hope that their bill would "pay for itself by lowering drug costs to federal programs," the editorial states. "With comprehensive, unbiased information, doctors should be more likely to prescribe the best drug for a patient, not necessarily the newest, high-priced drug that is being pushed by a drug company sales representative," the editorial concludes (New York Times, 3/20).

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