Healthcare professionals and medical students are often the target of the pharmaceutical industry’s marketing activities. But how does pharmaceutical marketing affect prescribing and dispensing decisions? Through a series of webinars, we help educate and empower healthcare professionals, and pharmacy and medical students to critically appraise pharmaceutical marketing, helping them make optimal treatment decisions for patients, both now and in their future careers. The webinars are also useful for civil society representatives who advocate for better medicines policy and policy-makers, themselves, who develop and implement pharmaceutical marketing policies.

Recent webinars

Taking Action Against Conflicts of Interest

In this webinar (December 2021) we teamed up with Italy’s Segretariato Italiano Studenti in Medicina (SISM) to discuss conflicts of interest in medical education.

The Conflicts of Interest in Medical Education

Policy Advisor for European Projects, Ellie White, recently joined the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations to discuss conflict of interest in medical education, and how students can take action on the pharmaceutical influence on medical students and curricula.

View the full webinar:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=609399789940939

Pharmaceutical Marketing: Taking Action

For our webinar in April 2020, we focused on how we can successfully ensure that pharmaceutical marketing does not encroach on decision making, and considerations for students and healthcare professionals in the future. Hosted by Paul Scheffer, President of Formindep a French non-profit organisation that advocates for more independence in health, the webinar included information on:

– Successful actions taken against pharmaceutical promotion

– How guidelines to protect us from pharmaceutical marketing are biased

– How students and healthcare professionals can become more involved in this movement

View the full webinar:

Big Pharma: The New Digital Influencers?

In November 2019, Tim Reed and Dimity Kirkwood from HAI hosted a Zoom webinar on pharmaceutical promotion online and the ways in which pharmaceutical companies are increasingly utilising digital platforms to reach healthcare professionals and consumers alike.

View the full webinar:

A Catalyst for Change: How Medical Students Are Pushing for Industry Regulation on Campus

In March 2019, Peter Grabitz (Member, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines) joined us for a Facebook Live session on how action by medical students is changing the way medical schools approach pharmaceutical marketing on campus.

View the webinar (slides available here):

Unbiased Information on Medicines: Why is it Needed?

In October 2018, we were joined by expert and HAI member, Dr Barbara Mintzes, for a webinar aimed at medical and pharmacy students, titled ‘Unbiased information on medicines: Why is it needed?’

View the full webinar: