Christiana Chiropractic, PC ...... (315) 409-0014

Download or Print This Article

Drug firms sponsor required courses - and see their sales rise
By Dan Vergano USA TODAY

At first glance, Harvard Medical School and advertising giant Omnicom Group seem to have little in common But they share one trait: the rillhtto award medical education credits that doctors need to keep their licenses in 34 states. Omnicom, working through subsidiary Pragmaton, is one of a growing number of advertising and marketing firms that provide continuing medical education (CME) courses for physicians. The firms are fully accredited. but because the marketing firms often are "'working for pharmaceutical companies, the practice increasingly is setting off ethical alarms. . It is unconscionable" says Catherine De Angelo, editor in chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Marketing firms "advertise wares under the of medical education," she says. But advocates say commercial CME courses use faculty from top medical schools, ensuring objectivity, while delivering updates on drugs to the medical community more quickly than academic educators. "Companies live through education" to ensure new products are used appropriately, says Bert Spilker of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in Washington, D.C. Without commercial CME firms, "you won't find enough Mother Teresas to provide everything doctors need." says Michael Scotti, a CME official with the American Medical Association. His organization Is one of the seven medical groups that charter the Chicago-based Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the of. five that accredits courses nationwide. The drug companies provide "unrestricted" grants to the marketers, who hire the course faculty. But growing numbers of critics say there's nothing unrestricted about the involvement of pharmaceutical companies. They fear that CME firms, which widely refer to course sponsors as "clients," stack their programs with faculty physicians overly friendly to their sponsors' products. Sponsors get a chance to market their products directly to doctors in a venue disguised as education, critics say. In fact, one company, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly, is directly accredited for CME, raising further concerns. Regulations going into effect in June promise higher standards of separation between grant providers and course faculty, but critics say they are weak and unenforceable. Meanwhile, attempts to change the practice have been rebuffed even as the number of commercial providers has increased .

Our purpose is to educate and adjust families toward optimal health