A regulamentação dos propagandistas farmacêuticos (nos EUA)

The Washington Post (reportagem completa) divulgou ontem reportagem sobre projeto de lei restrita ao Distrito de Colúmbia regulamentando a profissão e atividade do representante farmacêutico. Se aprovada a lei, a implicação será o estabelecimento de código de ética e de um board (conselho regional). Uma das implicações será o controle das atividades de vigilância da prescrição médica em prática lá como cá. Leiam o final da reportagem, onde há sempre a questão dos médicos. Barry is particularly critical of the legislation's licensing rules. "If you regulate detailers, so what?" he asked. "The doctors don't need to be protected from detailers." Christopher McCoy disagrees. McCoy, a physician in internal medicine in Minnesota, is a member of the prescription privacy committee of the National Physicians Alliance. The group of doctors, formed two years ago, does not accept money from pharmaceutical companies. There has been controversy recently over doctors receiving money from drug companies for speaking engagements and other activities, which critics say influences doctors' prescription choices. "Our self-confidence makes us believe we are immune to marketing," McCoy said. "Why would the drug companies spend $12 billion if it didn't work?" The industry actually spends an average of $25 billion a year on marketing, and 60 percent of that is for pharmaceutical samples, Powell said. Last year, it also spent $55.2 billion on research and development of new medicines, she said. McCoy said his group is most worried about data mining. "They have more information than we do. Most doctors I talk to are offended by this," he said. A U.S. District judge blocked New Hampshire this year from enforcing its law prohibiting data mining on the grounds that it restricts commercial free speech. State Rep. Cindy Rosenwald (D) said the state is appealing. "There's no question that using doctors' prescriptions to fine-tune your marketing plan has an impact on drug sales," she said. "There's no other industry that has such detailed information of their customers without their permission." Powell said data mining has benefits for patients because sales representatives can learn more about which drugs doctors are prescribing and better inform them of their effects.