startribune.comDULUTH, MINN. - Administrators at SMDC Health System saw them as virulent, insidious and cause for an all-out eradication campaign in its four hospitals and 17 clinics throughout northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Germs?
No, pens and note pads.
Nexavar pens. Combivir note pads. Vioxx mouse pads. Advair and Levitra clipboards A disembodied stuffed nose from Allegra that exclaims, "That's snot funny!"
As part of a new policy that experts say is one of the toughest in the nation blocking pharmaceutical companies from influencing doctors, the Duluth-based health system recently got rid of nearly every freebie with a drug company name on it.
'Bout damn time. I hope this moves into television, radio, internet, and print advertising as well. Since the ban on advertising drugs has been lifted, drug prices have gone up, not down, as was first promised.
Now, if they can just stop the free SAMPLES pharma companies push on doctors to influence them... that would be a bigger step.