Physician-pharmaceutical industry interactions continue to generate heated debate in academic and public domains, both in the United States and abroad. Despite this, recent research suggests that physicians and physicians-in-training remain uninformed of the core issues and are ill-prepared to understand pharmaceutical industry promotion. Furthermore, few medical curricula address this issue, despite warnings of the imperative need to address this gap in the education of tomorrow's physicians. There is a vast medical literature on this topic, but no single, concise resource. This book aims to fill that gap by providing a resource that explains the essential elements of this subject. The text makes the reader more aware of the key ethical issues and allows the reader to be a more savvy interpreter of industry promotion, have a heightened awareness of the public and medical legal consequences of some physician-pharmaceutical industry interactions, and be better equipped to handle real-life encounters with industry.

This is an excellent introduction to an area that deserves considerable thoughtby healthcare providers of all stripes. The book is especially relevant forpractitioners because it confronts ethical dilemmas as physicians wouldexperience them in the real world of medical practice -- an approach thatrenders the subject more complicated and more interesting, and the book moreuseful. The author does not gloss over the complexities of the subject, butrather captures them succinctly, distills them, and leaves ultimate judgmentsto the readers.Doody's Book Review