OPINION Why I No Longer Consult for Drug Companies Peter J. Whitehouse Published online: 8 January 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008 Consulting for any organization is a complex undertaking. It requires specific relationships among individuals that exist within a general organizational culture that itself may promote or discourage such relationships. Fundamentally speaking, a consultation occurs when an expert, usually from outside an organization, is brought in to provide expertise to the insiders or to help solve a problem(s) posed by the organization. Quite often, the relationship is time- or funding-limited and subject to confidentiality agreements (especially in the case of businesses). Physician– scientists who consult for the pharmaceutical industry seem both appropriate and even essential for the transfer of technology, and yet they are also problematic characters in the consulting game because scientists create potential intellectual property and because doctors write prescriptions. As I explain below, I have stopped consulting for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry for many reasons, including the influence of anthropology and specific anthropologists with whom I have collaborated on a diverse set of projects over the years. 1 Twenty-five years ago, I began consulting for drug companies concerning what most people today call Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In doing so, I identified and followed a specific strategy that was perhaps different from that of my colleagues of the time; rather than disparaging the pharmaceutical industry as an option for failed academics, I realized that very bright people could and would build careers in the industry, and I chose to try to identify the rising stars and work with them. For example, when I began my career, one of the dominant companies was Sandoz (now part of Novartis). The only product on the market to treat older people with so-called cerebral insufficiency was Sandoz’s product, Hydergine. I was asked to P. J. Whitehouse (&) Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Foley Elderhealth Center, 12200 Fairhill Rd, Cleveland, OH 44120, USA e-mail: peter.whitehouse@case.edu 1 To be disciplinarily fair, a few sociologists, particularly Drs. Jennifer Fishman and Susan Hinze of my home university also have informed my thinking. 123 Cult Med Psychiatry (2008) 32:4–10 DOI 10.1007/s11013-007-9075-x