The heart of the matter -- The evolution of the French medicine -- Coping with physicians' conflicts of interest in France -- The rise of a protected medical market : the United States before 1950 -- The commercial transformation : the United States, 1950-1980 -- The logic of medical markets :...

This article compares the means that the United States, France and Japan use to oversee pharmaceutical industry-physician financial relationships. These countries rely on professional and/ or industry ethical codes, anti-kickback laws, and fair trade practice laws. They restrict kickbacks the...

Blinding has become an important method to prevent doctors and patients from providing biased data for biomedical research. However, when commercial interests select and fund the investigators, the overall design, conduct, and reporting of scientific research may still be biased toward...

As U.S. policymakers consider strategies to control pharmaceutical spending they can learn from France, which has stopped drug spending growth without slowing access to innovative medicines. France determines the comparative therapeutic value of new drugs. Insurance pays more for drugs superior...

Policymakers have sought to reduce high prices and price variations by increasing price transparency. We sought to measure retail drug price variations and their relation to transparency. Our survey of six national pharmacies reveals large price variations both among and within pharmacies for...

This article outlines the key kinds of conflicts of interest that exist in the pharmaceutical sectors and shows how they affect 12 areas related to the development, marketing and distribution of pharmaceuticals. It explains how these conflicts of interest can compromise good practice and policy....

To control costs and improve access, nations can adopt strategies employed in the United Kingdom to control pharmaceutical prices and spending. Current policy evolved from a system created in 1957 that allowed manufacturers to set launch prices, capped manufacturers’ rates of return, and later...

Concerns that medical malpractice premiums continue to grow unabated has led to numerous proposals to change liability rules and reform tort laws. Not only would proposed legislation make lawsuits more difficult for plaintiffs, but the bills do not address the real source of the problems they...

Prescribing drugs for uses that the FDA has not approved – off-label drug use – can sometimes be justified but is typically not supported by substantial evidence of effectiveness. At the root of inappropriate off-label drug use lie perverse incentives for pharmaceutical firms and flawed...