No More Freebies for Doctors from Drug Companies
No more gifts or freebies for Massachusetts doctors from pharmaceutical companies, that is what Senate President Therese Murray is proposing. The ban would make Massachusetts the first state in the country to ban such gifts outright. The ban would prevent the pharmaceutical industry from giving and doctors, their families or employees from receiving gifts from drug companies. 
Gifts include payments, entertainment, meals, travel, honorariums, subscriptions, even a pen with a drug company logo. The legislation would continue to permit distribution of drug samples to doctors for the exclusive use of their patients.
The ban on drug and device company gifts to physicians was first proposed in 2005 by state Senator Mark C. Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat. Montigny said he was disturbed to see drug companies hire salespeople including “former beauty queens and cheerleaders” who wine and dine doctors and encourage them to prescribe drugs that may not be the most cost-effective. “You would not believe the conflict of interest here,” Montigny said. “Of all the nasty manipulation that’s gone on, there’s no more effective group at getting more than they deserve at the expense of the taxpayer than the pharmaceutical industry.”
On the flipside, Julie Corcoran, deputy vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade organization based in Washington D.C., said the industry’s sales people are “highly educated and trained by their companies.” The group opposes any ban, saying the pharmaceutical industry is already heavily regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. “I’m not aware of any kind of evidence or studies that link promotional or marketing materials with the cost of healthcare,” she said.
Those violating the ban could face a $5,000 fine or two years imprisonment or both under the proposal.
- Do you think that physicians put free pens and lunches before their patients’ well being?
- Is this proposal disrespectful toward physicians?
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This proposal is not only disrespectful to physicians, it is ABSURD, not to mention counterproductive. The cost of drugs is ALMOST ENTIRELY driven by the extreme costs and risks of bringing a drug to market and the very limited period of patent protection after approval, not by the marketing costs. Limiting marketing will only decrease the market, which will mean fewer prescriptions to share the costs of development and even higher costs per prescription. Of course, that is thinking economically, rather than politically, which is why Therese Murray and Mark C. Montigny are politicians and I will never be elected to office.
If someone wants to spend half-an-hour to an hour of my time talking to me, the least he can do is bring lunch. This applies equally whether he is presenting a product to me or consulting me as an expert in the field.
The free pens wind up being used (and taken) by patients and non professional staff, neither of whom write prescriptions.
I am much more concerned about the likes of Therese Murray and Mark C. Montigny being wined and dined by good-looking people than anyone else (Now THERE is a real potential for abuse with far more harmful consequences!).