Physicians as employees of the pharmaceutical industry

It is evident that a knowledge of medicine is indispensable for the discovery, development and, indeed, for the marketing of medicines. That is why the pharmaceutical industry has to employ physicians in research and marketing. However, this group of employees has always presented special problems. What I have to say relates to physicians, i.e. doctors who have trained as clinicians and who, initially at least, were drawn to clinical medicine. My remarks do not apply to pharmacologists, toxicologists and biochemists, i.e. natural scientists, who may have pursued their basic studies in a medical faculty and obtained a degree in medicine.