American Psychiatric Association Says It Will End Industry-Sponsored Medical Seminars

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics;  Primary Care / General Practice;  Conferences
Article Date: 27 Mar 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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The American Psychiatric Association on Wednesday said it will no longer seek or accept money from drug and medical device makers to fund seminars held at its annual meeting, the New York Times reports. Doctors are required to attend a certain number of these seminars -- known as continuing medical education courses, some of which are held at the annual APA conference -- in order to fulfill state licensing requirements. However, experts say that because these seminars are often financed by a private firm they can be biased in favor of the sponsor's products. APA has charged such companies as much as $50,000 to sponsor a symposium, and annual APA meetings have included up to 30 companies, totaling $1.5 million in industry financing, according to APA President Nada Stotland. She also said that total income from the meetings accounts for about 10% of the group's $50 million annual budget. The association also said it would phase out industry-funded meals at the meeting.

Stotland said, "We decided that our professional education should be entirely separate from industries that are involved in psychiatry." She noted that APA has been reviewing income from industry sources since early 2008, looking for potential conflicts of interest. According to the Times, industry-financed CME courses are "commonplace at annual meetings throughout medicine, as are payments to doctors and other financial arrangements." APA said it has no plans to eliminate drug advertisements from its journal, commercial exhibits at meetings or industry-sponsored fellowships for doctors (Carey, New York Times, 3/26).

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