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The methods used by pharmaceutical companies to market their wares have undergone increasing scrutiny in recent years. This year, several research groups attempted to provide quantitative data on these controversial tactics.
Legislation proposed or recently passed in 16 states mandates public disclosure of pharmaceutical company payments to physicians. However, researchers who examined records in two of these states found it virtually impossible to assemble a complete database of per-physician payments. Some companies routinely withheld information on the grounds that such information constituted a “trade secret,” and others provided information only erratically. Overall, the researchers concluded that existing laws are not stringent enough …