Unfortunately very true. Over a decade ago I worked on a project that built a database of every MD in North America and most of Europe. That then got hooked up to a couple different systems that maintained a track on them (employer, title, etc) but also heavily focused on if they did any research. This part was its own data store because it was like a four dimensional record of what MD’s were specialized into what, ranked them by what line they were on as a paper’s authors list, and a progression in their specialty. Pharmaceuticals reps already had the raw data but no one had put together.

The primary customers of this were obviously pharmaceuticals who found an exploit. Reps would have to document exactly what they gave MD’s to ensure there was proof they hadn’t tried to bribe the MD in any form. Now the exploit was something like. “Hey Dr. Specialist, we would like to fund your research!” Completely legal and I believe under a completely different set of regulations.