OIG guidance on industry gifts strict on compliance

Some in the medical community are worried that drug companies may withdraw financial support of CME to avoid violating anti-kickback statutes.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Feb. 10, 2003.

Although he already owned a copy, Leonard J. Morse, MD, was compelled to buy the 1932 third edition volume of Aequanimitas he saw at the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair.

This particular volume of inspirational addresses by Sir William Osler, MD, held a special interest for the chair of the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, because the book was one of hundreds given to medical students upon their graduation in May 1932 by Eli Lilly and Co.

"When I saw it, I said, 'Wow!' We're ... in the middle of discussing [pharmaceutical] industry gifts to doctors, and here's a beautiful depiction of how a company gifted physicians in a modest way," he said. "It was a gift that was very inspiring ... and I don't see anything wrong with that."

The book contains a congratulatory message signed by Eli Lilly himself who, at the time, was president of the drug company that bears his name.

"As the addresses by this mastermind of modern medicine are read, may you catch his vision of the almost boundless possibilities of your chosen profession," the inscription stated.

While Dr. Morse may have seen the gift as a way to educate and inspire graduates to be better doctors, much has changed since 1932 in the relationship between drug manufacturers and physicians.

So much, in fact, that another notable Massachusetts physician now thinks drug company gifts -- in any form -- mostly serve to inspire doctors to prescribe drugs from companies who provide gifts.