PharmedOut (PhO) is a Georgetown University Medical Center project founded in 2006. It is directed by Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman. The stated mission of the organization is to empower prescribers and other healthcare professionals to identify and counter inappropriate pharmaceutical promotion practices.
This organization provides healthcare professionals with pharma-free continuing medical education (CME) and resources to unbiased drug information. PharmedOut was founded with funds from the Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education grant program. Since 2008, PharmedOut has been financially supported by individual donations and largely staffed by a volunteer team of physicians, pharmacists, nurses, scientists, lawyers, students, artists and writers. PharmedOut conducts novel research on the effects of pharmaceutical promotion on prescribers and consumers. Access to publications, educational modules, factsheets, teaching tools, pharma-free continuing medical education (CME) and many other resources can be found on their official site
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PharmedOut was founded in 2006 through a grant from the Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education grant program. These funds came from a $21 million provision in a settlement between Warner Lambert (a subsidiary of Pfizer) and the Attorneys General of 50 States and the District of Columbia to settle allegations that Warner-Lambert conducted an unlawful marketing campaign for the drug Neurontin that violated state consumer protection laws. Georgetown University Medical Center, with Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman as Principal Investigator, received a $398,000 grant to create educational modules for physicians , factsheets for consumers, and short videos on pharmaceutical marketing practices. PharmedOut has grown into an international, influential watchdog organization that performs novel research on and creates highly effective educational modules about pharmaceutical marketing tactics. PharmedOut empowers prescribers to identify and counter inappropriate pharmaceutical promotion practices.[1]
PharmedOut speakers have provided lectures at dozens of Grand Rounds, meetings, conferences, and medical student events. PharmedOut provides access to hundreds of hours of free, web-based, pharma-free CME including: The Pharmalyzer: Are You Prescribing Under the Influence? Drug Approval in the U.S. Generic Drugs: Prescribing Sensibly Other PharmedOut resources include Patient Factsheets (including Fast Facts on Generic Drugs and Prescription Drug Marketing: What Consumers Need to Know) and teaching tools for medical educators PharmedOut journal articles include:
• Haunting the Medical Literature: How Ghostwriting was Used to Sell Menopausal Hormone Therapy, published in PLoS Medicine • Why lunch matters: assessing physicians' perceptions about industry relationships was published in the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions. • Ethical Considerations of Publication Planning in the Pharmaceutical Industry • Prescription Tracking and Public Health • Following the Script: How Drug Reps Make Friends and Influence Doctor • Off-Label Promotion, On-Target Sales
PharmedOut videos, including Zyprexa Drug Rep, provide illuminating glimpses behind the scenes through interviews with former and current industry insiders. Transcripts are also available.
PharmedOUT works on a variety of different topics simultaneously through the work of a devoted group of interns. More information can be found on their official site.
PharmedOut’s first conference, Prescription for Conflict: Should Industry Fund Physician Education? was held in June 2010 and explored the issues of whether the pharmaceutical industry should fund continuing medical education. Speakers included Carl Elliott, author of White Coat, Black Hat, Dan Carlat, author of Unhinged, Josh Sharfstein, Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Paul Thacker, a Senior Investigator for Senator Grassley. The conference was covered by the New York Times and Journal of the American Medical Association, and attracted 130 participants. The conference program and handouts are available on their official site. Funded solely through a Reflective Engagement grant from Georgetown University and registration fees, the conference was a joint effort between Georgetown University Medical Center, Georgetown University Law Center, and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.
Other partners include:
PharmedOUT publishes peer-reviewed articles, commentaries, consumer-oriented articles and fact sheets PhO Publications. Articles include Promotional Tone in Reviews of Menopausal Hormone Therapy After the Women's Health Initiative: An Analysis of Published Articles, Haunting the Medical Literature: How Ghostwriting was Used to Sell Menopausal Hormone Therapy, Why lunch matters: assessing physicians' perceptions about industry relationships, and Prescribing Evidence: the Effectiveness and Safety of New Drugs (Editorial).