In the Gray Zone?

I enjoyed your articles regarding the rules to keep bias out of continuing medical education (CME) in the April 18 issue. I couldn't agree more and would tend to side with those who believe that there should be a ban on industry-supported CME. Psychiatrists could choose to attend industry-supported seminars and symposia, but would not earn CME credits for them. Drug companies need to spend a lot less money marketing their products to us and then funnel those savings into lowering the cost of the medications.

Big Pharma is not all bad, however, as a number of these same companies offer patient-assistance programs that have saved many of my patients thousands of dollars each year. Many would be lost or would be taking older, less-expensive drugs (many of which have more bothersome side-effect profiles) were it not for these programs.

I wanted to comment as well about the distinct irony, however, of seeing the article “APA Enforces Strict Rules to Keep Bias Out of CME” in the April 4 issue on the same page as a large advertisement from Pfizer marketing Geodon. Perhaps your page editor would want to be more considerate of the layout next time.