Investigation reveals violation of Penn Med policy

A recent investigation conducted by news organization ProPublica revealed that 20 Penn School of Medicine doctors have delivered lectures to colleagues on behalf of pharmaceutical companies since 2009, in violation of a University policy which prohibits doctors from engaging in marketing activities and other inappropriate relationships with pharmaceutical companies.

Medical School Vice Dean Peter Quinn explained that since the publication of the ProPublica investigation, actions have been taken to verify whether the Penn faculty listed in the report have been involved in an inappropriate relationship with drug companies.

Of the original 20 named, “only seven or eight faculty members may actually be doing consulting on behalf of drug companies," he said.

Quinn explained that although Penn has a policy against doctors marketing on behalf of drug companies, "there’s no black and white in this situation."

Quinn provided the example of a doctor who delivers a lecture promoting the results of a particular drug researched and developed by a pharmaceutical company, without having conducted the study himself, as being in clear violation of Penn’s conflict of interest policy.

However, a doctor who conducts original research on a drug that is later marketed by a pharmaceutical company may present the information to other physicians using his own data and conclusions without violating the policy.

“We don’t want to demonize the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and Penn’s faculty, as such appropriate relationships are needed to produce a benefit to society,” Quinn said.

Quinn added that there is now a move to clarify Penn’s policy so that faculty will not misunderstand what it means to engage in an “inappropriate relationship” with external entities like pharmaceutical companies.

The ProPublica investigation found similar conflict of interest cases at other institutions such as Stanford University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Colorado Denver.

Despite the findings of the investigation, Quinn maintained that although not perfect, the Medical School is “ahead of the pack” regarding conflict of interest policies. He cited a recent American Medical Students Association Scorecard on such policies in medical schools nationwide, which gave Penn an “A” for its efforts in minimizing such cases.

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