Scary Federal Law on Physician Marketing

Today’s email commentary from Bob Ehrlich of DTC Perspectives got my blood boiling and my mind racing. Fortunately, I read beyond the first paragraph or I might have walked away with a dismal outlook for the future of pharma marketing.

His email describes a proposed federal law that would prohibit healthcare providers from accepting gifts, money, paid entertainment, holidays, or travel from pharmaceutical or medical device companies. It also prohibits any meetings between physicians by company representatives during working hours. Not only that, it prohibits physicians from attending scientific meetings financed by a single company.

Stay calm and keep reading.

This proposal was printed in The Moscow Times and the proposed law is for Russia.
Phew! [brow wipe]

Ehrlich goes on to say that physicians in Russia are successfully challenging the proposal, and he postulates a parallel situation in the United States.

Take a read and be reminded of the good things that come from the American pharmaceuticals industry in the land of the free and the home of the brave.