Lilly releases details of US doctor payments
pharmafile | July 28, 2011 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | industry reputation, lilly
Lilly has released details of its payments to doctors and healthcare organisations in the US.
The company paid $48.1 million to 45,440 doctors and/or 1,827 healthcare organisations in the first three months of this year, with the majority of the money (63%) going towards research activities.
Lilly said funding for educational programmes made up over a quarter of the spend, and business meals and travel expenses each accounted for 4 per cent.
Lilly was obliged to reveal the payments as part of a 2009 settlement for US marketing violations. This saw the company sign up to a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement after pleading guilty to off-label promotion of its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa.
The payment disclosures cover everything from X-ray and laboratory work, to the costs associated with physician and staff time.
The largest cumulative payment reported on the Lilly registry is to Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI), a not-for-profit academic clinical research organisation, for $767,564, related to a study requested by the FDA.
Jack Harris, VP at Lilly’s US Medical Division, said: “When healthcare professionals work together with the pharmaceutical industry, patients benefit from our combined expertise.
“Through these collaborations, we are able to develop innovative medicines, improve health education and better understand patients’ needs.
“Much of our research and development costs are related to the significant care, testing and monitoring of patients in clinical studies,” he added.
One of the largest aggregate, non-research based payments to a single doctor was $20,167 for the first quarter of this year, and included $2,992 for travel expenses.
Most of the biggest payments are related to research based spending however, with the majority of fees to doctors being less that $100.
Lilly details its payments on its new website lillyphysicianpaymentregistry.com, which currently breaks down the money it gave to US doctors in the first quarter of 2011.
A new drive for greater transparency
In the past the pharma industry’s reputation has been tarnished by some of its marketing practices, and some countries have responded by putting transparency firmly on the agenda.
The US is taking the lead on this, and soon all pharma companies working in the country will be forced to release details of such payments under the government’s Sunshine Act, set to come into force by 2013.
GlaxoSmithKline has already undertaken a similar scheme, and has been publishing details of its payments to US doctors each quarter since 2009.
There are no such Europe-wide rules on the issue as yet, but changes have already been put in place to UK pharma’s Code of Practice that will see companies obliged to declare doctor payments from 2013.
Ben Adams
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