I personally don’t interact with too many drug reps but my wife is a Pharm.D working in a hospital. We’ve discussed drug reps a few times and the dynamic between prescribers and reps and pharmacists. The conclusions that we both have come to is that drug reps do provide a valuable service. However, as retired doc said “The ethics of business is not the same as the ethics of medicine”. I remember a story in which a drug rep was telling my wife that their new drug hit an extra receptor (3 instead of 2) that their competitor’s did not. However, in the study of the drug, it was no more effective than their competitor’s that only hit 2 receptors.

So, is there a solution to this other than asking physicians to spend more time keeping up with new drugs and how they compare?

I am going to agree with DB on 1 point and disagree on 2.

First I agree with: “I know that physicians must share the blame”. Too often we take drug rep info as “truth”. We (physicians) are half, if not more, of the blame. We write the prescriptions, not the drug reps. We must make sure the info we are given is correct.

What I dont agree with are the following 2 points DB makes:
DB writes: “When we listen to drug reps we are acting irresponsibly”.- I dont agree with this statement. I think if we listen to them uncritically we are acting irresponsibly. They serve a purpose to give us info (be it likely biased) on new drugs or new uses (approved) of old drugs. It is our job to critically appraise and challenge the info directly with the drug rep or by searching for information on our own and critically appraising it. I agree that we dont have to talk with them but if we do our job is to be critical.

DB writes: “Our only defense is to refuse to see drug reps”. Information is our best defense. If you see them, hear them out but then you must look at the information for yourself and critically appraise it.

Eli Lilly Zyprexa scandal

Zyprexa off label promotion scandal is all over the news now.
Lilly drug reps are alleged to have called their marketing ploy,”Viva zyprexa”.

Eli Lilly zyprexa cost me over $250.00 a month supply out of my own pocket X 4 years and has up to ten times the risk (over non users) of causing diabetes and severe weight gain.

Zyprexa which is only FDA approved for schizophrenia (.5-1% of pop) and some bipolar (2% pop) and then an even smaller percentage of theses two groups.
So how does Zyprexa get to be the 7th largest drug sale in the world?
Eli Lilly is in deep trouble for using their drug reps to ‘encourage’ doctors to write zyprexa for non-FDA approved ‘off label’ uses.

The drug causes increased diabetes risk,and medicare picks up all the expensive fallout.There are now 7 states (and counting) going after Lilly for fraud and restitution.

Only 9 percent of adult Americans think the pharmaceutical industry can be trusted right around the same rating as big tobacco.

—
Daniel Haszard zyprexa-victims.com

I was prescribed zyprexa for ocd and depression (off-label uses). Prior to taking zyprexa for 7 months, I was in perfect physical health. I have just been diagnosed with diabetes and hyperglycemia. No one else in my family has diabetes.