Conflicts Policies And Antidepressant Prescribing

Do conflict of interest policies adopted by residency programs actually work? To test this notion, a group of researchers examined prescribing data for several widely promoted antidepressants and found that psychiatrists who encountered restrictive policies were less likely to prescribe the drugs than those who did not have to contend with such policies. Specifically, the University of Pennsylvania researchers compared psychiatry residents who graduated in 2001, before such policies were instituted, and 2008, when the Association of American Medical Colleges developed consensus principles of conflict of interest policies and one year after the American Medical Student Association began a ‘PharmFree’ scorecard. They found that, relative to 2001 graduates in the same residency group, 2008 graduates in programs with ‘maximally restrictive’ conflict policies prescribed heavily marketed antidepressants significantly less than 2008 graduates in programs with ‘minimally restrictive’ and ‘moderately restrictive’ policies, or 4.3 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively. The results were also consistent for prescribing reformulated and brand-name versions. Again, relative to the 2001 graduates, prescribing rates among the 2008 graduates in programs with maximal restrictions were significantly lower than among 2008 graduates of minimally restrictive programs for both reformulated and brand-name drugs, or 3 percent and 4.5 percent, respective...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Antidepressants Conflicts of Interest Medical School Source Type: blogs