Amid growing concern about the ethics of physicians accepting gifts from pharmaceutical manufacturers, a recent survey gave U.S. medical schools a poor grade on the topic.
Only 21 of 150 medical schools have strong policies on conflicts of interest related to pharmaceutical industry marketing, according to a joint project of the American Medical Student Association and The Prescription Project, an industry watchdog group.
AMSA rated the schools based on its PharmFree Scorecard, which offers a comprehensive look at conflict of interest policies across the country.
AMSA worked with The Prescription Project to develop a rigorous methodology and an interactive Web site that evaluates each school's policy in 11 areas. The scorecard can be found on the Web at www.amsascorecard.org.
The scorecard evaluates restrictions on gifts, paid speaking for products, acceptance of drug promotion samples, interaction with sales representatives and industry-funded education, among other criteria.
Seven schools received an "A" for the strength of their policies, while14 received a "B."
However, only four received a "C," 19 graded out at "D" and 60 - or 40 percent of all schools - received a grade of "F." Schools that declined to submit policies or did not respond to repeated requests for policies received "F" grades.
Pharmaceutical industry marketing to physicians is receiving increasing attention because of the effect such efforts can have on treatment decisions. Estimates suggest that pharma companies spend $28 billion to $46 billion, in addition to promotions sponsored by the medical device industry.
"It is time to extricate marketing practices from medical education," says Brian Hurley, MD, AMSA's national president. "There is substantial evidence that marketing shapes physicians' prescribing habits. By eliminating the gifts and the misleading information that pharma reps currently bring into our schools, hospitals and academic medical centers, physicians will be able to better practice evidence-based medicine."
In April, the Association of American Medical Colleges proposed recommendations that called for medical schools to adopt strong conflict of interest policies to limit the influence of such marketing.