Advocacy
The group tries to get healthcare providers to sign the No Free Lunch pledge. Health care professionals who take the pledge agree to:
accept no money, gifts, or hospitality from the pharmaceutical industry; to seek unbiased sources of information and not rely on information disseminated by drug companies; and to avoid conflicts of interest in practice, teaching, and/or research.
As of 2004, the pledge had about 300 signers. Patients can use a directory provided by the group to find doctors who have taken the pledge.
The group claims that doctors preferentially prescribe drugs that are marketed to them over better or cheaper options because they are beholden to drug companies from which they accept gifts. Some doctors argue that they are not influenced by drug company marketing and that it is thus not necessary to refuse gifts from pharmaceutical companies.
No Free Lunch also argues that doctors should not accept drug samples from drug companies to give to patients because the group believes that the samples will cause the doctors to prescribe those drugs over others. Drug company representatives argue that the free samples can be given to indigent patients.
The group also seeks to convince physicians not to rely on research provided by drug companies for their information about drugs but to base their decisions only on impartial scientific evidence. No free lunch works with an Australian group called Healthy Skepticism to urge doctors to rely on independent educational materials rather than materials paid for by drug companies for their drug information.
The group also calls for less involvement of drug companies in the funding of medical education.
No Free Lunch does not blame drug companies for trying to market their products; the group feels that that is the companies' job. Rather, it believes that physicians are allowing themselves to be courted and swayed by advertisers.
Read more about this topic: No Free Lunch (organization)