The Doctor Is In (Big Pharma’s Pocket)

Posted by SHAUN MULLEN, TMV Columnist in At TMV.
Mar 21st, 2007 | 3 responses

The New York Times has a compelling – and disturbing story – about how pharmaceutical companies are buying doctors.

The story is based on public records from Minnesota, which is one of the first states to require that doctors reveal their ties to drug companies.

Money quote:

The Minnesota records are a window on the widespread financial ties between pharmaceutical companies and the doctors who prescribe and recommend their products. Patient advocacy groups and many doctors themselves have long complained that drug companies exert undue influence on doctors, but the extent of such payments has been hard to quantify.

Click here for more.

3 Responses to “The Doctor Is In (Big Pharma’s Pocket)”

1. Dave Schuler says:

   March 21, 2007 at 8:08 am

   A point not made in the article but worth making: cultivating these sorts of relationships comes out of the R&D budgets of the pharmaceutical companies rather than the advertising or marketing budgets. Remember that the next time you hear somebody defending Big Pharma on the grounds of the billions they’re investing in R&D.
2. DLS says:

   March 21, 2007 at 9:41 am

   Rx-corp-paid junkets, excuse me, conventions (with plenty of time for golf) in Hawaii?

   This is old news.

   Say, what about regulating drug ads the way tobacco and alcohol ads are regulated?
3. Gerard Sunnen, MD says:

   April 27, 2007 at 3:24 pm

   Dear Editor:

   I wish to alert you to an article containing pertinent and important information about hepatitis C research in Egypt (and its broader implications). The article basically tells of the influence of special interests in suppressing promising complementary approaches to hepatitis C therapies.

   This article, entitled “NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (NYSDOH) STOPS A WORLD FIRST U.S. – EGYPTIAN COLLABORATIVE STUDY ON HEPATITIS C AND BLOOD OZONATION” may be accessed by googling “NYSDOH and ozone” “NYSDOH and Egypt” and “NYSDOH and hepatitis.” It may also be found on:

   http://www.triroc.com/sunnen/topics/nysdoh.v.ozone.htm

   This article is intended to attract interest for this vital research to move forward.

   Kindly let me know if your publication could have an interest in this article.

   Sincerely yours,

   Gerard Sunnen, M.D.
   President, Ozonics International, LLC
   200 East 33 Street, #26J
   New York, NY 10016
   Tel. 212-6790679
   Ozonicsint.com
   GSunnen@aol.com