No Free Lunch (organization)

No Free Lunch is a US-based advocacy organization that holds that marketing methods employed by drug companies influence the way doctors and other healthcare providers prescribe medications. The group does outreach to convince physicians to refuse to accept gifts, money, or hospitality from pharmaceutical companies because it claims that these gifts create a conflict of interest for providers. The group also advocates for less involvement of drug companies in medical education and practice in a variety of other ways.

The organization was founded in 2000 by Bob Goodman, an internist from New York City. Most of the group's approximately 500 members are doctors, though some are physician assistants, nurses and other practitioners.

The group made news in 2005 when the American Academy of Family Physicians refused to rent exhibition space to No Free Lunch for its annual scientific assembly. A spokesperson for the academy argued that the dialog between physicians and exhibitors is "important and healthy" and that No Free Lunch seeks to eliminate that dialog. Less than a week after the initial refusal, the academy reversed its decision and allowed No Free Lunch to rent a booth, citing discussion within the group and comments from members.

The American College of Physicians also refused to rent exhibit space to No Free Lunch at its Annual Session, citing an event in 2001, in which a person claiming to represent No Free Lunch escorted investigative journalists with a hidden camera onto the exhibit floor.

In collaboration with the American Medical Student Association, No Free Lunch organized a "pharmfree campaign," in which medical students and others discuss issues of pharmaceutical company involvement in the medical community.

The group tries to get healthcare providers to sign the No Free Lunch pledge. Health care professionals who take the pledge agree to:

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