Harvard Medical Students Rebel Against Big Pharma Ties

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udents-Rebel-Against-Big-Pharma-Ties.aspx

 

 

Harvard Medical Students Rebel Against Big Pharma Ties

 

Two hundred Harvard Medical School students are confronting the school’s

administration, demanding an end to pharmaceutical industry influence in the

classroom.

The students worry that pharmaceutical industry scandals in recent years,

including criminal convictions, billions of dollars in fines, proof of bias in

research and publishing and false marketing claims, have cast a bad light on the

medical profession. The students have criticized Harvard as being less vigilant

than other leading medical schools in monitoring potential financial conflicts

by faculty members.

Harvard received the lowest possible grade, an “F,†from the American

Medical Student Association, a national group that rates how well medical

schools monitor and control drug industry money.

The students were joined by Dr. Marcia Angell, a faculty member and former

editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, who has vigorously

advocated for an end to liaisons between academia and Big Pharma.

 

Medical schools’ image as unbiased sources of education is increasingly being

tarnished as the truth comes out about their heavy ties to the drug industry.

Even Harvard Medical School, one of the most prestigious in the United States,

recently earned an F for its policies regarding accepting money and gifts from

drug companies.

The grade came from the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), which

ranked 150 medical schools according to their ties to industry. The more money

and other incentives a school was receiving from the pharmaceutical industry,

the worse grade they got.

Harvard earned the lowest grade possible, so kudos to these medical students who

decided to confront the school’s administration for some much-needed change.

According to AMSA:

• Out of Harvard's 8,900 professors and lecturers, 1,600 admit that they or a

family member have ties to drug companies that could bias their teaching or

research.

• The pharmaceutical industry contributed more than $11.5 million to Harvard

in 2008 for “research and continuing education classes.â€

The issue has only gotten more heated since the New York Times ran this article,

featuring the story of Matt Zerden, then a first-year Harvard medical student,

who became suspicious after one of his professors promoted the benefits of

cholesterol drugs, and even went so far as to belittle a student who asked about

side effects.

Turns out the professor was not only a member of Harvard’s medical faculty,

but also was a paid consultant to 10 drug companies, including five makers of

cholesterol treatments.

“I felt really violated,†Mr. Zerden, now a fourth-year student, said in the

New York Times. “Here we have 160 open minds trying to learn the basics in a

protected space, and the information he was giving wasn’t as pure as I think

it should be.â€

And that really sums up the issue in a nutshell.

How can medical professors teach unbiased, truthful information to their

students when they’re being essentially paid off by drug companies?

Well, they really can’t, and that’s the problem.

Impressionable medical students are being indoctrinated into the drug-based

model of disease care as we speak. It goes on all the time, and I can vouch for

this personally as I, too, was brainwashed in medical school to favor the drug

paradigm.

In the mid '80s, I was actually a paid speaker for the drug companies. They

would fly me to various physician education events around the country and pay me

a very generous stipend to lecture to these groups. That was more than two

decades ago, before I was able to remove myself from their very powerful

brainwashing techniques -- and I was finally able to understand the truth of

what they were doing.

A Long History of Corruption

In the 19th century, most Americans thrived on more natural approaches like

homeopathic medicine.

Then, in 1847, along came the American Medical Association (AMA). Most people

didn’t trust this new conglomeration, so to gain the power, money and control

they were after, they kept all homeopathic physicians out of their “club,â€

and proceeded to call all related remedies “quackery.â€

If you didn’t want to pay to join the club (by advertising in their medical

journal, JAMA), anything you recommended would also be criticized.

From that point on, the AMA turned into a medical monopoly, taking control of

medical schools and essentially medical students as well. To put it simply, when

the AMA took control of the medical schools, they made it so that only those who

graduated from one of them could practice medicine.

And since they controlled the schools, guess what was largely taught? How to use

prescription drugs.

This intertwining of the drug industry and medical schools is still going strong

today, with the end result being a medical model that relies heavily on drugs,

surgery and hospital stays, instead of teaching true healing practices.

What Happens When Industry Gets a Hold of Doctors?

It’s old news that drug companies use aggressive sales tactics to influence

doctors’ prescribing habits, but what may surprise you is how well these

tactics work.

A study a few years back found that drug companies were the greatest influence

on doctors’ decisions of which drugs to prescribe. Further, about 70 percent

of doctors regarded drug representatives as an efficient way to obtain new drug

information!

Of course, they start their pitches even before the doctors are practicing,

while they’re still in medical school.

Drug reps must target doctors, and doctors in training, because  a physician is

required for the consumer to purchase their product. Although in the United

States they have also ramped up their direct-to-consumer ads on television and

in magazines, their real “meat and potatoes†comes from their marketing

directly to physicians.

This is one of the primary reasons why drug companies spend $4 billion each year

on direct-to-consumer ads in the United States, but 400% more, a massive $16

billion, to influence your doctor. That is $10,000 for every single doctor in

the United States.

Change is Underway

Fortunately there is a generation of bright medical students entering the field,

and many of them are taking steps to help clean up their medical education.

Already, AMSA has succeeded in securing a requirement at Harvard that all

professors and lecturers disclose their industry ties in class (one

professor’s disclosure list had 47 company affiliations!).

Amidst all of the bad press, Harvard’s dean also announced that a 19-member

committee will be re-examining the school’s conflict-of-interest policies.

The inundation of drug companies into the medical field as a whole did not

happen overnight, and it won’t get solved that way either. But step by step,

changes are being made in the right direction.

If you are a student in medical school right now, or planning to enter soon,

please become familiar with AMSA’s PharmFree campaign. Aside from being a

great source of information, their site offers guides and kits to help you make

positive changes, including major policy reforms, at your own school.

 

Sources:

  Alliance for Human Research Protection March 3, 2009

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