In a way, the “predation” of pharma companies on medical students on their home turfs reminds me a lot of the controversies surrounding the tactics of credit card companies on unsuspecting students on college campuses.

When there’s an opportunity….

We’re all familiar with the remedies both university leadership and even some states’ legislative bodies have enforced in the past in the wake of arrgessive marketing techniques by banks designed to incur long term loyalty (in the form of massively needless student debt) at the hands of those just looking for a “free lunch”.

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On 1/1/09, Pharma instituted a voluntary ban on all gifts to physicians — the mugs, pens, post it notes, and all of the other materials involved in even further promotion of their products. The first group to applaud this move is the American Medical Student Association, to which I belonged many, many years ago.

AMSA’s PharmFree campaign has educated and trained thousands of medical students across the country to interact professionally and ethically with the pharmaceutical industry. “Banning gifts from the drug companies is a good first step,” says Dr. Brian Hurley, AMSA’s national president. “There is no role for marketing masquerading as education when our patients’ lives are at stake.”

LINK | AMSA LINK