As universities tighten ethics policies, drug firms turn to private physicians to promote products

When looking for a doctor to travel the country and tout its costly prescription fish oil pill, GlaxoSmithKline didnâ??t select a heavyweight university researcher. Instead, it wrote checks to Tara Dall, a Delafield primary-care doctor who entered private practice in 2001.

Last year, the Journal Sentinel series “Side Effects” found that there was little disclosure to patients of drug-company moonlighting among dozens of doctors at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.