New Year to usher out Pharma swag

Starting January 1, the pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on the kind of branded goodies—Viagra pens, Zoloft soap dispensers, Lipitor mugs—that were meant to foster good will and, some would say, encourage doctors to prescribe more of the drugs. Some skeptics deride the voluntary ban as a superficial measure that does nothing to curb the far larger amounts drug companies spend each year on various other efforts to influence physicians. But proponents welcome it as a step toward ending the barrage of drug brands and logos that surround, and may subliminally influence, doctors and patients.