Drugmaker Glaxo cuts back on seminars for doctors

* Company cuts out commercial medical education companies

* Only about 20 accredited providers will get grants

CHICAGO, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) said on Monday it will pare back funding for continuing medical education seminars.

While the company did not link its decision to political developments, pressure has been mounting in Congress and among some medical journal editors to limit the drug industry's influence over doctors.

Deirdre Connelly, president of Glaxo's operations in North America, said in a statement that starting in 2010, the company will limit its support for medical education programs, funding only independent programs with "the greatest potential to improve patient health."

The company said it will cut out education programs put on by commercial providers, and will only pay for programs from about 20 medical education providers with a track record of quality.

Grant applicants must be from academic medical centers or teaching hospitals or national professional medical associations, and all must be properly accredited.

Drug companies routinely sponsor seminars and updates on prescription drugs at medical meetings, but critics say the education they provide tends to favor the sponsoring company.

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, has been aggressively pushing to limit drug industry ties with doctors in the United States, after investigations revealed that prominent Harvard University psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman and others failed to fully disclose payments from drug companies.

Earlier this year, the American Psychiatric Association cut back on medical education seminars funded by drug companies at its annual meetings.

Dr. Marcia Angell of Harvard Medical School in Boston and former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, wrote in a February commentary in the British Medical Journal that doctors should pay for their own continuing medical education instead of turning to drug companies for updates on prescription drugs. (Editing by Maggie Fox and Bill Trott)