Top US university adopts tight drug CME rules

The California, USA-based Stanford University School of Medicine has announced a ban on new drug industry sponsorship of specific continuing medical education courses and programs, effective September 1. Philip Pizzo, the School's Dean, explained in a newsletter that the new policy would apply to both monetary and "in kind" donations. Existing contracts will be maintained, provided they are "fully compliant with the policies of the [Accreditation Council for CME] and the School of Medicine," he said.

Two years ago, Stanford introduced a policy which eliminated the receipt of pharmaceutical industry gifts and payments to the University's Medical Center, which includes the School and various health care facilities. However, Dr Pizzo said that, "when we initiated the 2006 Industry Interactions Policy, I elected to not include CME because we felt it required additional study and evaluation." The University formed a task force to examine whether the exception should be retained. The group reported back in May.

The policy shift may partly reflect the growing visibility of drug industry involvement in CME: according to ACCME figures, sponsorship grew from $302.0 million in 1998 to $1.2 billion in 2006. In many cases, a Stanford spokesman claimed, US CME courses are designed to fit drug marketing needs instead of improving physician performance.