In Washington, D.C. there is a movement to do just that.
What’s disturbing is the broad-brush, assumption of guilt revealed in words like these:
The District could become the first jurisdiction in the country to license pharmaceutical sales representatives, a move a council member says would help protect doctors and patients from disreputable agents who help drive up the costs of prescription drugs…Because the agents’ salaries are dependent on sales, they sometimes give the wrong impressions about drugs and present themselves as medical professionals, Catania said….Catania and advocates of the bill say patients’ health can be threatened by salespeople who provide false information about prescription drugs.
I think perhaps, with this logic, we should license politicians. And journalists.
[...] Licensing Pharma Sales Reps? (Impactiviti blog) [...]
If a doctor confuses a pharmaceutical rep for another doctor, maybe that doctor needs to have his license reviewed (if not revoked).
I agree with Pete. If a doctor can’t sort through drug rep bs, he doesn’t need to be in a position prescribing patients medication. Apparently the bill scraped by with a 7-6 vote Tuesday in the D.C. Council. I was surprised at the other stipulations of the bill, such as mandating that drug reps have a bachelor’s degree, adhere to a code of ethics, refrain from giving doctors gifts and no longer use area prescribing data as a marketing tool to target specific physicians unless those physicians choose to share that data. Life is going to be rough for DC drug reps if this thing passes.