Conflicts are everywhere

Yet another tedious BMJ article on the “evils” of the drug industry.¹ Perhaps the BMJ should start to focus on wider aspects of conflict of interest, such as pharmaceutical advisers peddling the verdicts of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence—which itself bows to a government remit to contain cost—or to academic departments only publishing positive data to bolster research assessment exercise ratings and secure future grants. Conflicts of interest abound in modern medicine, and laying all the problems at the door of the drug industry seems to be missing the point—or perhaps the BMJ goes out of its way to “industry bash” to make itself feel less guilty about accepting industry advertising money.

Highly qualified medical professionals should not see themselves as hapless victims of a marketing machine, they should simply get smart and trained in how to manage the interface with commercial partners. It is a scandal that formal postgraduate education has no decent training on how doctors should relate to commercial organisations—which we increasingly have to do.