1 mai 2008
Shine the light on drug company payoffs
Does your doctor accept lunches, trips to conferences, even speaking fees from drug companies? Doctors get an average of 28 visits from drug company reps each week, and sadly, research shows that all this marketing influences physicians to prescribe the drugs these reps are selling. It's time to make drug companies publicly report gifts
to doctors.
http://cu.convio.net/site/R?i=J5XmJ_OiW7RuoyfS6_xN2w
Shine a light on drug company gifts to doctors
Your doctor will write you an average of seven prescriptions this year. Those prescriptions mean big money to drug companies. That’s why they’ll spend more than $25 billion arketing their products to doctors. Drug companies give doctors free trips, gifts, lunches, samples and consulting fees. It all adds up about $8,300 per doctor on average. The tab for free lunches alone may total $1 billion a year.
This "marketing" not only drives up the price of medicines, it also encourages prescribing the newest, most costly drugs, which often are no better than older, less-expensive ones. Bills have just been introduced in Congress to make the drug companies publicly report all gifts over $25 to doctors. Making these drug-industry gifts public will help reduce conflicts of interest and improve our health-care system. Ask your members of Congress to support these bills today, and start shining a light on undue influence by the drug industry.
Go and send the message
GIGI
