What is a doctor’s job? Is it: a) to diagnose illness; b) to treat patients; or c) to persuade other doctors to prescribe a brand-name pill? To those answering c), here is an additional question: do you work for a pharmaceuticals company?

GlaxoSmithKline’s decision to stop paying doctors to advocate its drugs to others, and to stop giving its sales representatives individual bonuses based on how often doctors prescribe the pills, is the latest step in the industry’s slow process of reform. Spurred by scandals and legislation, it is starting to behave – in some countries – as it should.

Nobody minds if Tupperware rewards chosen customers to sell its products to their friends at parties, or if Procter & Gamble employs sales people to pitch its wares to retail outlets. The equivalent practices at pharma companies, however, are fraught with conflicts and pitfalls. They risk transforming the advice given by a doctor into the pitch given by a marketer.