Pfizer, according to the Wall Street Journal. “hoping to temper criticism that it's improperly influencing doctors, is eliminating direct financial support for medical-education courses that are offered by third-party companies.”
"The reason we're not going to directly support them has to do with mitigating the perception of a conflict of interest, if a direct payment is going from a company like Pfizer to them," commented Cathryn Clary, vice president of U.S. external medical affairs.
Okay, so let’s get this straight – this is being done not because anything was amiss or non-compliant or because there’s too much CME going on out there – but because of political pressure.
Senator Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a written statement: "My goal is to strengthen the system by shedding light on the financial relationships that exist between industry and medical doctors, medical education programs, medical journals, and medical research. … Public scrutiny can do a lot to bring about necessary reforms."
