MDs slash some drug co. ties amid rising scrutiny

November 8, 2010 By LINDSEY TANNER , AP Medical Writer

(AP) -- A survey shows doctors have sharply cut some financial ties to drug companies, thanks to increased scrutiny about those relationships.

Critics say drug company payments and freebies improperly influence .

The survey says the biggest change is in the number of doctors taking drug company money for attending medical meetings. Last year just 18 percent of doctors surveyed said they accepted those payments, versus 35 percent in 2004.

There was also a drop from 78 percent to almost 64 percent among doctors who accepted free drug samples. Patients may like getting free medicine, but those samples can affect doctors' prescribing habits.

Almost 2,000 were surveyed. The results appear in Monday's .

More information: http://archinte.ama-assn.org. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170[20]:1820-1826.

©2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Rank 3 /5 (2 votes)
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • A question about drug tolerance
    createdMay 23, 2012
  • Poor nutrition leading to overeating?
    createdMay 23, 2012
  • Math and dyslexia?
    createdMay 21, 2012
  • portable metabolism meter?
    createdMay 21, 2012
  • Rare medical conditions on 20/20 tonight
    createdMay 18, 2012
  • "Good" Cholesterol in Doubt
    createdMay 17, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences

More news stories

Of mice and mental models: Neuroscientific implications of risk-optimized behavior in the mouse

(Medical Xpress) -- Regardless of an organism’s biological complexity, every encephalized animal continuously makes under-informed behavioral choices that can have serious consequences. Despite its ubiquity, ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created 13 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Skp2 activates cancer-promoting, glucose-processing Akt

HER2 and its epidermal growth factor receptor cousins mobilize a specialized protein to activate a major player in cancer development and sugar metabolism, scientists report in the May 25 issue of Cell.

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created 7 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Tongue analysis software uses ancient Chinese medicine to warn of disease

For 5,000 years, the Chinese have used a system of medicine based on the flow and balance of positive and negative energies in the body. In this system, the appearance of the tongue is one of the measures used to classify ...

Medicine & Health / Other

created 5 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cancer may require simpler genetic mutations than previously thought

Chromosomal deletions in DNA often involve just one of two gene copies inherited from either parent. But scientists haven't known how a deletion in one gene from one parent, called a "hemizygous" deletion, can contribute ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created 11 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

First study to suggest that the immune system may protect against Alzheimer's changes in humans

Recent work in mice suggested that the immune system is involved in removing beta-amyloid, the main Alzheimer's-causing substance in the brain. Researchers have now shown for the first time that this may apply in humans.

Medicine & Health / Alzheimer's disease & dementia

created 12 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast


It's in the genes: Research pinpoints how plants know when to flower

Scientists believe they've pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants "know" when to flower.

Dragon arrives at space station in historic 1st (Update 2)

The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station on Friday, triumphantly captured by astronauts wielding a giant robot arm.

High-speed method to aid search for solar energy storage catalysts

Eons ago, nature solved the problem of converting solar energy to fuels by inventing the process of photosynthesis.

Landmark calculation clears the way to answering how matter is formed

(Phys.org) -- An international collaboration of scientists, including Thomas Blum, associate professor of physics, is reporting in landmark detail the decay process of a subatomic particle called a kaon – ...

Researchers solve structure of human protein critical for silencing genes

In a study published in the journal Cell on May 24, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists describe the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human protein bound to a piece of RNA that "guides" the pr ...

MIT researchers devise new means to synchronize a group of robots (w/ Video)

(Phys.org) -- For several years, roboticists have been working out ways to get a group of robots to perform synchronized activities as demonstrated most often in dance routines. It’s not just about trying ...