Episode 28: Life on the Road / Pharma influence on Doctors

Doctor Vs Comedian

The guys start with a serious debate about whether ‘drums’ or ‘flats’ are the better chicken wings (00:50). Ali then discusses life on the road as a comedian (5:11), including tips on how to get started in comedy touring. Then, Asif discusses the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the prescribing habits of doctors (29:36). He discusses his own personal experiences with pharma, as well as what the evidence says about whether the pens, dinners and trips given to doctors actually influences behaviour (spoiler: it does).

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Show notes

• Doctors Prescribe More of a Drug If They Receive Money from a Pharma Company Tied to It: https://www.propublica.org/article/doctors-prescribe-more-of-a-drug-if-they-receive-money-from-a-pharma-company-tied-to-it
• Big pharma paid $151M to doctors, hospitals in 2017-18, but we don’t know who got paid or why: https://globalnews.ca/news/5769443/big-pharma-paying-doctors-hospitals/
• ‘Manipulating physicians’: How drug reps pitch your doc: https://globalnews.ca/news/5702980/how-drug-reps-pitch-doctors/
• Big pharma pours millions into medical schools — here’s how it can impact education: https://globalnews.ca/news/5738386/canadian-medical-school-funding/
• Association of Industry Payments to Physicians With the Prescribing of Brand-name Statins in Massachusetts: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2520680
• Association of Pharmaceutical Industry Marketing of Opioid Products to Physicians With Subsequent Opioid Prescribing: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2681059
• Association Between Academic Medical Center Pharmaceutical Detailing Policies and Physician Prescribing: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2623607
• Interactions between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry generally and sales representatives specifically and their association with physicians’ attitudes and prescribing habits: a systematic review: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5623540/
• Institutional Academic−Industry Relationships: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/209192
• A National Survey of Physician–Industry Relationships: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa064508
• Of principles and pens: attitudes and practices of medicine housestaff toward pharmaceutical industry promotions: https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343%2801%2900660-X/abstract