Doctors and Pharmaceutical Industry: Insight from Malaysian Scenario

The relationship between doctors and the pharmaceutical industry has received significant attention from both the policy makers and consumers groups over the last few years. lt had been reported in many international literatures that physicians meet with pharmaceutical representatives several times in a month and accept many gifts, cash payments, drug samples, meals, as well as travelling expenses to attend educational and recreational events. Within this context, a study was carried out to identify and to document various promotional techniques used by pharmaceutical industry directed towards general practitioners practicing in Malaysia.This study was a cross-sectional study, involving registered GPs practicing in Malaysia.