The pharmaceutical sales rep/physician relationship in Turkey: ethical issues in an international context

Abstract

In many developed countries, the physician/pharmaceutical sales representative relationship has increasingly become the focus of ethical questions. Given this context, the purpose of the present study was to determine the ethical dilemmas faced by pharmaceutical sales representatives in Turkey in their relations with physicians, and to identify possible solutions. Through an investigator-designed questionnaire, the ethical problems perceived by 215 pharmaceutical sales representatives were quantitatively analyzed. Nearly all of the participants (96.7%) reported that they had faced ethical dilemmas in marketing drugs to physicians. The most commonly reported problems included paramedical requests (for free lab test kits, etc.) and the necessity of bargaining with physicians over the use of their firm's drugs by offering gifts and sponsorships. The participants in the study felt that physicians were the primary source of ethical problems in the marketing of drugs, and the participants' most highly ranked potential solution to these ethical problems was a better understanding, on the part of physicians, of the role of pharmaceutical sales representatives. At the end of this study, suggestions are given with a view to helping health policy makers understand and address the current controversies involving drug company representatives and physicians.