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Home > Comment > BMJ
2008;337:a1780, doi: 10.1136/bmj.a1780 (Published 23 September 2008)

Published 23 September 2008,
doi:10.1136/bmj.a1780
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1780

Letters

Pharma and medical education

Some progress in UK psychiatry

Moynihan describes the defeated efforts of a group of psychiatrists
to free the annual Congress of the Royal Australia and New Zealand
College of Psychiatrists from drug company sponsorship.1
These psychiatrists can take heart from the fact that the
British Royal College of Psychiatrists conducted its 2008 annual
meeting without reliance on any industrial sponsorship. The
success of the conference shows that a rigorous and stimulating
academic meeting can be held without funding from the drug
industry, albeit in less plush surroundings than usual.

The Critical Psychiatry Network has been encouraging the college
to take action for several years, and we applaud the decision
to run the annual meeting without sponsorship. The recent college
policy on relations with the pharmaceutical industry also takes
some important steps, such as prohibiting company sponsorship
of speakers or attendees at college run meetings, and the commitment
not to use commercial sponsorship for public education campaigns.2
However, the policy misses some important opportunities.

It fails to recommend the freeing of continuing medical education
from direct drug company influence by the use of blind trusts,
and it does not follow the example of the Academy of American
Medical Schools and recommend a comprehensive ban on the provision
of gifts and free food.3

We were also disappointed that the college decided not to follow
our suggestion to compile a public register of interests of
their members, so that everyone could become aware of the scale
of commercial income received by individual psychiatrists, including
leading academic and opinion leaders. Competing interest disclosures
in journals and meetings do not require that the amount of income
is declared, but this is often what is truly shocking. By abrogating
responsibility for this policy to local institutions, the college
failed to provide the leadership role that it is so well placed
to assume.

Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1780

Joanna Moncrieff, senior
lecturer1, Philip Thomas,
professor of philosophy, diversity, and mental
health2, Rhodri Huws, consultant
in community psychiatry3

1 University College London, London WC1E 6BT, 2
International School for Communities, Rights, and Inclusion, University of
Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, 3 St George’s Community Health
Centre, Sheffield S3 7ND

j.moncrieff{at}ucl.ac.uk

Competing interests: The authors are all members of
the Critical Psychiatry Network.

References

Moynihan R. Is the relationship between pharma and
medical education on the rocks? BMJ 2008;337:a925. (14 August.)[Free Full Text]

Royal College of Psychiatrists. Good psychiatric
practice. Relations with pharmaceutical and commercial organisations. London:
RCPsych,
2008.

Association of American Medical Colleges. Industry
funding of medical education. Washington, DC: AAMC, 2008.

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