Physician exposure to drug company promotions can cause their patients physical and financial suffering and provides no benefits to their prescribing practices.

1. A Look at Hidden
Relationships with
Healthcare: Real
Pharmaceutical related
Tensions
Piyush Tripathi
Sneha Priya
MBA – Pharmaceutical Management

2. A major point of contact
between the doctor and
the pharmaceutical
companies ?
SALES
REPRESENTATIVES

3. Marketing Practices -
Gift Giving / Pleasant Offers
Memories
Preceptorship
Free Samples
Support in Clinical Matters
CME Conferences
Drug Trials (PMS etc.)

4. According to one source,
the number of drug sales
representatives in US
increased by 57% between
1990 and 2000, so that by
2001 there were 90,000
representatives.

5. the Medical Council of India
(MCI)
(Code of Ethics
Regulations)

6. In 2001, TAP
Pharmaceuticals paid a
record-setting fine to the
federal government for
inflating the price of the
drug “Lupron”.

7. A $50 million
settlement was reached
between the government &
Genetech in 1999 following
allegations involving off-
label promotion of
Protropin.

8. In 2004, AstraZeneca
settled charges that it had
engaged in illegal
marketing practices of its
drug Zoladex, and that it
had encouraged doctors to
bill Medicare and Medicaid
for the free samples they
had given to patients.

9. In August, 2012 Pfizer Inc
paid $60.2 million to settle
a U.S. probe involving
illegal payments to win
business overseas,
including kickbacks such
as cellphones and tea sets
given to doctors in China.

10. promised to give citizens
some relief from their
medical expenses.

11. The Quantity of Punishment
I. Gifts / Cash or Travel Facility (1,000
to Rs 5,000)
WARNING
I. Bribes (Rs 5,000 to 10,000)
SUSPENSION for three months
I. Bribes (Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 )
SUSPENSION for six months
I. Bribes (>Rs 50,000 )
SUSPENSION for one year
NO QUANTITY OF PUNISHMENT

12. According to an internal email
dated October 11, 2012 from Mr.
Sudarshan Jain, MD of Abbott
Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, the gift-giving
has been temporarily suspended.
A Business that makes
nothing but money, is a poor
kind of business.
- Henry Ford

13. CONCLUSION
Can be a significant burden for the 400
million people in India who live on less than
$1.25 a day.
The bottom line is that in their relationships
with industry, health professionals must be
focused exclusively on scientific purposes,
NOT marketing tactics. The government must
aggressively target the pharmaceutical and
device industry's marketing practices to
physicians, as well as physicians themselves
in some instances.