Indian journal of medical ethics
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Indian J Med Ethics · Oct 2010
The Health Impact Fund: a potential solution to inequity in global drug access.
Global health inequities persist despite significant increases in funding and a growing number of global health initiatives. Especially vulnerable to disease, the poor majority of the world's population currently cannot afford advanced medicines, and the diseases confined to the poor receive little attention from pharmaceutical research. As a complement to the existing intellectual property regime, we have proposed the Health Impact Fund (HIF) as a mechanism that would create incentives for the development and optimal promotion of new high-impact medicines sold at the cost of manufacture. In this article, we outline the HIF and its ethical significance.
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Indian J Med Ethics · Oct 2010
Attitudes and practices of medical graduates in Delhi towards gifts from the pharmaceutical industry.
Pharmaceutical companies use a variety of strategies, including gifts, to influence physicians. In December 2009, the Medical Council of India amended the Code of Medical Ethics to ban medical professionals from accepting gifts from pharmaceutical companies. In view of this ban, it is important to find out the magnitude and contours of the problem amongst Indian medical professionals. ⋯ We e-mailed the questionnaire to 150 fresh graduates. We found that the majority of graduates agreed with existing guidelines: they accepted low cost gifts but considered expensive gifts unrelated to patient welfare unethical. Despite the low response rate, this study is important because data from India on attitudes and practices of medical professionals regarding gifts from the pharmaceutical industry are virtually non-existent.