The Impact of Drug Company Funding on the Content of Continuing Medical Education

<p> An analysis was performed to compare the content of two continuing medical education courses on calcium channel blockers that were funded by two different drug companies. The sponsoring university had guidelines for interaction with commercial companies designed to prevent the development of inappropriate bias. In Course I, the company drug received 31 percent of the total drug mentions; in Course II, the company drug received 60 percent of the total drug mentions. In both courses, the clinical effects noted for the company drug were more likely to be positive than for the non&hyphen;company drugs. In Course I, the mentions of clinical effects of the non&hyphen;company drugs as compared to the company's drug were more likely to be negative, and in Course II, the clinical effects of the non&hyphen;company drugs were more likely to be equivocal. The few statements directly comparing the drugs usually indicated that the company drug was the better drug. Thus, there appeared to be evidence of bias in the content of the courses related to the funding sources.</p>