Company P/E Studies "Are Looked At Askance"

Pharmacoeconomic studies conducted by drug manufacturers tend to be looked at askance by doctors because of the perception of bias, Michael D'Souza, chairman of the Kingston & Richmond general practice Multifund, told last week's Financial Times World Pharmaceuticals conference in London.

The feeling is that with company-conducted studies, everything is done to make money and satisfy the shareholders, said Dr D'Souza. He felt it was "very dangerous" for a manufacturer to publish its own estimates of the cost-effectiveness of a product for the medical profession; this should be done by independent organizations.

The Multifund medically managed care option represents the third system for managing health care, the other two being state management and commercial management, said Dr D'Souza, and he felt that while the three should be partners, Multi-funding should orchestrate the combined system for the benefit of patients, payees and providers. The K&R Multifund was set up in 1992, when 80% of general practitioners around Kingston upon Thames near London applied for GP fundholding status simultaneously, with the idea of pooling their management allowances. Multifunding enables doctors to engage a higher-caliber shared management team than any could afford as a singleton fund, and sets out to counteract the ethical problems inherent in fundholding, he said.