Pharmacy and the Pharmaceutical Industry: Healing the Rift–A Hospital Pharmacy Perspective

Abstract

SUMMARYThe independent nature of hospital pharmacy practice makes the pharmacist a potent industry adversary in drug use. The rift between hospital pharmacists and the pharmaceutical industry may be smaller than in other areas of pharmacy due to the data-driven, guideline-based nature of care, which limits the influence of marketing activities. The tension between the pharmaceutical industry and hospital pharmacy resulting from this independence is a key component of the hospital pharmacist's professional ethic. To seek a full reconciliation between industry and hospital pharmacists might be productive for industry, but it would certainly have long-term negative consequences for pharmacy and pharmacists.