PharmedOut

PharmedOut is a group aimed at helping doctors "to identify and counter inappropriate pharmaceutical promotion practices."

Overview
PharmedOut is a project of Georgetown University Medical Center located in Washington, DC and it's run by physicians. Its goals are:
 * Document and disseminate information about how pharmaceutical companies influence the prescribing of drugs.
 * Foster access to unbiased information about drugs.
 * Encourage physicians to choose continuing medical education courses free of pharmaceutical company influence.

Pharmaceutical company influence on doctors
Most states require doctors to engage in continuing medical education (CME) to remain up-to-date in their fields. The Washington Post writes, that for doctors, the continuing education credits required to renew a medical license "are a way to bone up on the latest clinical developments while chowing down at some of the country's finest restaurants. For drug companies, which provide much of the more than $1.7 billion spent annually on these dinner meetings and conferences, they are an opportunity to help educate physicians who must remain up-to-date in a rapidly changing field.

"But some doctors have complained that industry sponsorship of medical education creates an inherent conflict of interest for physicians at the expense of patients who risk being prescribed drugs they may not need or cannot afford. "If you're a doctor, you can refuse to see drug reps in your office, but you can't avoid CMEs," said physician Adriane Fugh-Berman, a longtime critic of industry funding of continuing medical education programs. While these courses appear impartial, said Fugh-Berman, an associate professor in the department of physiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, they can be an integral but largely unscrutinized part of a covert marketing campaign to convince doctors that a disease or condition is pervasive, under-diagnosed and best treated by writing a prescription."

Funding
The project has received a grant from $430 million paid by Warner-Lambert, a division of Pfizer, as part of a settlement of a case taken by state attorney-generals' over a marketing campaign for the drug Neurontin. The drug was marketed in violation of state consumer protection laws.

Personnel

 * Adriane Fugh-Berman MD, Director
 * Beth Johnson MS, Project Manager
 * Volunteers include nurses, pharmacists, industry insiders, and students

Contact details
PharmedOut Georgetown University Department of Physiology and Biophysics Box 571460 Washington, DC 20057-1460 Phone: 202-687-1191 Fax: 202-687-7407 Web: http://www.pharmedout.org

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Pharmaceutical industry

External resources

 * VIDEO explaining mission, PharmedOut, accessed November 2010.
 * Zyprexa Drug Rep video, PharmedOut, accessed November 2010.