BOSTON — FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said on Monday that it “bothers” him that Novo Nordisk, which makes an obesity medication, funded the development of obesity coursework for medical schools. But he also said he saw it as an example of a drug company filling the void left by health systems that aren’t teaching doctors and trainees how to use new medicines.
“I think it’s a shame that you would need to depend on a pharmaceutical company for an educational program about something that’s affecting half of Americans,” Califf said during a meeting with STAT reporters and editors.
But, he said, “we also live in a practical real world. You might argue that if health systems did their jobs, you would have no need for educational programs from drug companies. But talk to people who practice medicine who are part of these big health systems and ask them how much help they get and guidance on what to do from the health systems they work for. I say this being a card-carrying lover of academic health systems, but that’s not where the money goes in academic health systems.”
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