Here is an interesting article on a reason why drug costs are still high. The author mentions that drug companies are funding the continuing education that the doctors go to. He even says that the schools allow this. Then again, the schools may well be in a funding crunch, and therefore, they turn to the industry.
Pharmacists, too, get CE from drug companies. Some of it is obviously biased. Much of the time, we get the advertisement right before the presentation. Pharmacists are a much more cynical lot when it comes to industry. Perhaps part of the reason for this is that we pay for these drugs up front. I remember times when the pharmacy would insist on a less expensive item, and the doctors would say that it was just pharmacy playing the economics game with their patients. In some cases, it may be true, but I will bet that in many cases, the doctors have absorbed the industry lines.