The story of how pharmaceutical firms buy doctors to prescribe given medication would be unbelievable if it appeared in some publication with less credibility than the Bulletin of the AARP.

Here’s the reported way in which a sales manager at Astra-Zeneca described the filthy operation: “There’s a big bucket of money sitting in every office. Every time you go in you reach your hand in the bucket and grab a handful.”

Little did the teller of this tale expect that his words would turn up on the Internet. But they did.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

But even if they did not, the truth about the way in which pharmaceutical firms seek to buy doctors to prescribe their product would have been brought to public attention. A two-year Senate Finance Committee probe has concluded that by funding continuing medical education programs for doctors, pharmaceutical companies “have been able to increase their market for new products” and to illegally promote “off label uses” for their drugs. The committee has expressed concern that persuading doctors to use more costly drugs raises safety issues and most certainly places an additional cost on government funding.

The New England Journal of Medicine reports that 94% of doctors have a relationship with drug companies, 83% get free meals and 35% attend industry events.

They used to call such acts “bribery.” Now, we guess it goes under another name — like friendship.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re in the middle of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount