A Dozen Pharmas Make Payments to Physicians Public

Here's something that must go against the grain of competitive, known-for-being-secretive pharmaceutical firms. Physicians probably aren't fond of it either.

By September 30, 2013, all pharmaceutical companies will be required to post payments over $10 made to physicians and other healthcare physicians online. So far, 12 companies already make that data available on their websites, some because they were required to do so as part of a legal settlement. The disclosure requirement originated in the Physician Payments Sunshine Act proposed in 2009. Provisions of the Sunshine bill became part of the health reform law passed in 2010.

ProPublica, a public interest news site, has organized the various company disclosure information into a database that is searchable by state, institution, dollar amount, and physician. If a company detailed the type of expenditure -- such as speaking, consulting, research, business travel or meals -- that's included, too.

The intent of the ongoing "Dollars for Docs" investigation is to bring greater transparency to physician-industry ties. But the disclosure database is also handy for looking up where pharmas are funding clinical trials, presumably for their drugs under development. For example, last year Pfizer paid the Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN, about $2.5 million for Pfizer-sponsored research. It also gave Mayo Ctrl Lab Clinical Trials $49,000 and the Mayo Foundation $4,662 for sponsored research work.

Some companies have provided details on expenditure by quarter which makes for interesting comparisons. During the first quarter of 2011, EMD Serono paid 18 physicians a total of $257,000 for consulting, travel and meals. One physician received a $12,250 consulting fee for "service for advisory board." Eli Lilly spent about $18 million in speaking, consulting, travel and meals during the same quarter.

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the industry trade group, issued a statement September 6 defending industry payments to physicians. "It is true that some critics suggest that interactions between companies and physicians are inappropriate, but they disregard the important steps that companies take to ensure the quality of these informational relationships," said Diane Bieri, PhRMA's executive vice president and general counsel. "Biopharmaceutical research companies comply with internal policies, FDA regulations, and the PhRMA Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals in order to ensure that their relationships with physicians are ethical and informative.

Welcome to a new era of transparency.