Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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ISSUES ABOUT PROMOTING DRUGS IN ROMANIA. OPINIONS OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL REPRESENTATIVES

LASZLO-ZOLTAN SZTANKOVSZKY1, MAGDALENA IORGA1*, CAMELIA SOPONARU2, IOAN ANTOFIE3

1.”Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine and Interdisciplinarity, Iasi, Romania
2.”Al. I. Cuza” University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Iasi, Romania
3.”CFR” Clinical Hospital Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania

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Promoting drugs in Romania is related to a number of factors depending on the pharmaceutical companies’ rules, the representatives’ practices and the changing health policies over the years. The aim of the study was identifying pharmaceutical representatives’ opinion regarding drug promoting. We used 70 medical representatives (reps) who answered a survey about different issues regarding drug promoting. Variables like age, work environment, length of employment or type of studies (medical/nonmedical) have been taken into consideration. Data were processed using SPPS software 17.0. 91% of reps claimed that their employing company has an official ethical code of drug promotion. 15% of them declared they often/almost always offered sponsorships to doctors, on first place being sponsorships for the purpose of continuing medical education. Drug promoting is influenced by some factors including pharmaceutical company’s rules, the relationship with doctors and pharmacists or personal way of relation to all stakeholders.