Dating Patients’: Wrong for Physicians But Tolerated in the Case of Drug Companies?

Poster presentation given during the 13th World Congress of Bioethics (Edinburgh, UK).

This poster has been awarded the MH Poster Prize.

Abstract: Would you like to be invited on a date with a pharmaceutical representative? The date would likely focus on your disease, involve other patients and industry’s key opinion leaders, and more if there is chemistry between you and a certain drug. Would you prefer that such a date would take place at a fast food chain or at a fancy restaurant? Would you like to hear more about the drug you are taking or maybe about other alternative treatments for your disease? These are some of the questions that patients are having throughout their direct interactions with pharmaceutical representatives during industry-sponsored patient support events. Patients' own use of a dating metaphor to name such interactions raises interesting questions about the relationships that a drug company can or should develop with its customers, and whether (and how) such practices should be regulated. While professional codes of ethics prohibit healthcare professionals (HCP) from having romantic relations with their patients, industry codes of ethics say very little about corporate interactions with patients. There is thus a need to reflect on such practices. Through the analysis of a specific case study, this presentation will highlight and unravel the main ethical issues about “dates”, and suggest solutions to the challenges that many patients face in accessing credible health information about their conditions. After all, patient-centered events should be genuinely providing educational and support services for patients, with empowerment as an overarching interest rather than the commercial success of a drug.