New Campaign Champions Changes in Medical Prescribing to End Conflicts of Interest

The Prescription Project today called on academic medical centers, professional medical societies and public and private payers to end conflicts of interest resulting from the $12 billion spent annually on pharmaceutical marketing. Building on a series of reforms recommended last year in an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the project will conduct and publicize research on conflicts of interest, advocate for policy reforms that will eliminate such conflicts, and promote prescription practices that are based on scientific evidence.

“Although new medical drugs and devices are revolutionizing the practice of health care and improving quality of life, America has a prescription drug problem: the prescribing practices of doctors are being influenced by billions of dollars in direct-to-physician marketing,” said Robert Restuccia, Executive Director of The Prescription Project. “When Americans visit their doctor and get a prescription, they should know he or she is relying only on the best medical information, not the latest marketing campaign.”