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Your summary of the debate in the July 3 issue over pharmaceutical funding of medical education at this year's APA annual meeting was well balanced but contained several errors regarding figures for pharmaceutical industry profits, expenditures on marketing, and total expenditures on medical education.
In 1997 the "ethical" (brand name) drug industry had total sales of $106 billion, including $66 billion in domestic sales. Marketing expenses run about 22.5 percent of sales, thus totaling around $15 billion. Compare this figure to the $11.2 billion spent on all undergraduate and graduate medical education in 1996 (AAMC). Drug company spending on CME activities alone has risen from about $6 million in 1975 to hundreds of millions today. If the drug industry wishes to support unbiased, objective medical education, we invite them to contribute to a no-strings-attached, all-payer education fund.
Amy Brodkey, M.D.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Irwin Hassenfeld, M.D.
Albany, N.Y.
Editor's note: The writers were two of the participants in the annual meeting debate on which they comment.