Watchdog slams pharma firms sway over doctors

‘Doctors are unlikely to hear unbiased information’ from industry, says Professor Michael Barry

Dr Michael Barry, the clinical director of the National Centre for Pharmoeconomics Picture: Fergal Phillips

There should be “no role” for the pharmaceutical industry in the education of doctors, the state’s medicines watchdog has said.

Writing in today’s newspaper, Professor Michael Barry said he believed pharma funding was creating conflicts of interest and was leading to poor prescribing.

Barry, the clinical director of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics and head of the HSE’s Medicines Management Programme, said poor prescribing – which compromised patient safety, increased expenditure and resulted ...