Industry Influences Medical Education Programs, Senate Committee Report Says

Continuing medical education (CME) programs may not be independent from inappropriate influence from the pharmaceutical industry, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said.

The committee conducted a two-year investigation and found that drugmakers have used CME funding to reward physicians for prescribing their drugs and promoting their products for off-label uses. In addition, oversight agencies have not regulated the companies strongly enough, the committee's report said.

Companies give financial funding to CME program providers, but use the money to market their own products, according to the report. Companies have also tried to influence clinical trial guidelines and Medicare formularies, a joint statement from Baucus and Grassley said.

Some progress has been made, but the programs are not separate enough from company influence, Baucus said. "As long as drug companies' medical education efforts can influence Medicare and Medicaid spending, the Finance Committee has to insist that there be more improvement," he added.

The committee worked with 23 drug companies during the investigation. The companies said they had created policies to separate educational grant funding from product marketing, according to the statement.

However, the report found that in 2005 and 2006, 27 percent of CME program providers violated at least one Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) regulation meant to curb industry influence. "Risks still exist for kickbacks, veiled advertising of drugs, efforts to bias clinical protocols and off-label promotion," the senators said.