CHICAGO (AP) - Drug companies' influence on medical research and on doctors themselves will be under the microscope as the nation's largest group of physicians gathers for its annual meeting this week.
Proposals facing the American Medical Association include a measure seeking to make all drug study results public, even unpublished research funded by pharmaceutical companies that might reflect poorly on their products.
The measure stems partly from concern over unpublished data linking some antidepressants with suicidal behavior in children. Government officials are investigating the potential link.
Another measure would strengthen a policy the AMA adopted last year on "shadowing," the practice of drug company representatives sitting in on patients' visits with their doctors.
Critics say the practice is an attempt to influence what medicines are prescribed. Drug companies say the practice is educational, but they sometimes pay hundreds of dollars a day to the doctors for these visiting rights - money the new measure says doctors should refuse.
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