Pfizer announces change in medical education support

Pfizer has announced plans to change the way it supports continuing medical education programmes for healthcare professionals.

The firm restated its commitment to supporting such initiatives in hospitals and academic medical centres and to also offer its services to programmes sponsored by community hospitals, medical societies and associations.

But the company is eliminating direct funding for doctor continuing medical education programmes provided by medical education and communication companies.

It will, however, honour all existing commitments despite this announcement.

The company said its new approach underlines its target of meeting the top standards for medical education.

It said it would continue to support grants such as those made to the California Academy of Family Physicians earlier this year to support a healthcare programme to reduce the number of smokers in the US.

Dr Joseph M Feczko, chief medical officer of Pfizer, said: “Continuing medical education, when done right, improves healthcare provider understanding of disease, expands evidence-based treatment, and contributes to patient safety.”

He added that the company understands the appearance of conflicts of interests in this area can be damaging with the firm committed to taking actions in the best interest of physicians and patients alike.

In May 2008, Pfizer appointed Amy W Schulman as senior vice-president and general counsel of the company.