If there is one thing for which 2004 will be remembered, it will surely be for exposing the cosy dynamics that have existed between the pharmaceutical industry, drug regulatory authorities, and the medical profession. But if the latest exploits of the US Food and Drug Administration (BMJ 2004;329: 125315564236) and drug giants GlaxoSmithKline and Merck have left a nasty taste in your mouth, absolution is just a short URL away at the new UK website of the campaigning group No Free Lunch (www.nofreelunch-uk.org).
Launched last week, the site is cleverly constructed and encourages an open debate about the relationship between the drug industry and the medical profession without being anti-industry or taking itself too seriously.
A good starting point is the wonderful multiple-choice quiz “Am I a Pharma junkie?” It is easy to spot the answers that will score maximum points. But even if you do, the analysis of your score will raise a laugh or two and you will want to go through the quiz again and again until you have read all the possible characterisations.
But the best feature must be the offer of catharsis through the site's “confession” section, especially for those with uncomfortable memories of corporate hospitality and prescribing habits. A short description of your experience (no more than 200 words and anonymous, of course), a click on your return key, and you too can “become a born again ex-pharma junkie,” the site promises.
There are already some confessions from doctors and journalists on the site, although pharmaceutical industry employees and nurses are also invited to contribute. Once absolved of your over-indulgence or guilt you can go straight to the “Take the pledge” section, where you can sign up for a gift-free, hospitality-free, and sponsorship-free future and display your certificate for your colleagues to admire.
The site also has a newsroom (currently displaying news items from the BMJ but due to expand in the future), and useful pages of background information on how the pharmaceutical industry penetrates society.
Glasgow general practitioner Dr Des Spence, who set up the site with money earned writing articles about the Nofree-lunch campaign, hopes it will help to distance doctors from the pharmaceutical industry. It will certainly bring a smile to many faces and maybe even a few puzzled brows among those who can't work out which pharmaceutical company logo is mimicked by the NFL bubble.