Pharmaceutical companies and medical students: a student’s view

To quote from Rogers’s article in this issue of the Journal, “There is growing debate about the ethics of relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession”.1 Nothing could be more true. However, if this debate is raging for doctors, then it is sizzling for medical students. While doctors might not have the time or the inclination to voice their opinions on the pharmaceutical industry publicly, Australian medical students seem to have both. The relationship between medical students and the pharmaceutical industry has been hotly debated by the National Council of the Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) for years. Yet tangible outcomes and policy have been less palpable, evidence of just how complex this issue is.