Industry-Doctor Relations are Changing.
For years the relationship between doctors and the pharmaceutical industry has been under scrutiny. The same magnifying glass is gradually being applied to surgeons and the medical device industry. Within the last twelve months this type of scrutiny has intensified on the orthopedic community. This culminated in five leading US orthopedic companies being investigated. The investigation resulted in the orthopedic companies agreeing to a Deferred Prosecution Agreement in September 2007 (see my Sep 2007 blog). Although not admitting any liability, they agreed to pay a huge sum money and also agreed to be subject to oversight for 18 months by a US federally appointed monitor, pertaining to past consulting arrangements with healthcare professionals. Zimmer alone paid the government $170 million. One of the best attended symposiums at the recent annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons is the symposium on doctor-industry relation. Certainly the situation is changing and advocate groups are getting more insistent and the industry is trying their best to comply with government's initiative (see Associated Press' report).
For the medical device industry where ideas, innovation and identifying unmet medical needs, traditionally comes from surgeons and doctors. There is a need to balance reform with judicious management of physician's conflict of interest. We need to be mindful not to throw out the baby with the bathe water.
