Embarrassment of Riches?
During the Philadelphia meeting, I went over to the exhibit area to talk to a colleague in industry. The exhibit area was booming with displays with whizzbang technology, enticing spreads of chocolate cake and pretzels, and coffee bars galore. In the old days, exhibits used to have bowls of medication samples. If there was ever a circumstance that called for a proton pump inhibitor, the combination of a mustard-soaked pretzel and a cappuccino is it. I would have gladly snatched a packet of Protonix if it were there and had I chosen to indulge.
In the exhibit hall, every so often, a great cheer of glee and excitement would erupt. The first time it happened I thought that the ban on giveaways had been lifted and the logo-emblazoned pens were on their way. Alas, the pens stayed in a warehouse somewhere and the shouting was about someone who had made a hole-in-one on an Astroturf miniature golf course. The course was part of a product display for a biologic, and I can also guess about the link between putting and a targeted therapy.
One of many paradoxes of modern medicine is the curious juxtaposition of commerce and science, with golf challenges and computer games attracting meeting attendees to learn about treatment advances. Since the founding of the ACR, the amount of money flowing in the system has grown gigantically. In future columns, I will discuss how to deal this flow (torrent?), and hopefully how to channel it to match the priorities of both patient and healthcare provider.
Dr. Pisetsky is physician editor of The Rheumatologist and professor of medicine and immunology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
