The New Statesman.

Yeah, I didn't go on this actually, but colleagues of mine were taken on a hot air balloon ride over Oxfordshire by one representative.

This is Dr Phil Whitaker, an NHS GP for over 30 years and a regular contributor to the new

statesman. He's talking here about some of the more creative methods that pharmaceutical companies

have used to get their products in front of British doctors. Certainly when I started out in

practice, the main kind of method for pharmaceutical companies sort of

creating awareness and prescription of their products was through representatives.

They had quite good expenses budgets, let's put it like that.

So there were a lot of inexpensive things like pens and post-it notes that would be emblazoned

with drug names.

But they would also treat doctors to dinners and

take them off to conferences and pay expenses, but they just happen to be held in very nice

ski resorts or places like that. By targeting the doctors prescribing the drugs, the idea for

major pharmaceutical companies, or big pharma, was to increase the chances of getting their new products

into circulation in the NHS. In 2012, there was some new regulations passed in the UK that basically

made it only legal for a pharmaceutical company to provide what were turned inexpensive gifts, and they had to

have some relevance to the practice of medicine or pharmacy. So that was the end of the hot air balloon flights.

The result was a sudden shift in drugs companies' sales tactics, who turned their attention from

individual doctors to the public body responsible for approving drugs for use in the NHS,

the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or Nice.

At Nice, we produce evidence-based guidance to support the health and care system,

ensure value for money, and provide people with access to the best quality care.

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