U.S. Senators Seek Records of Pharma Payments to Doctors

[Guest guest]

The New York Times found that psychiatrists who took the most money from

makers of antipsychotic drugs tended to prescribe the drugs to children

the most often. These and other stories have helped to fuel a growing

interest among state and federal officials to document and restrict

payments to doctors from drug makers.

A new federal bill called the " Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2007 "

has been filed.

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New York Times

Senators Seek Public Listing of Payments to Doctors

By GARDINER HARRIS

September 7, 2007

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 - Makers of drugs and medical devices would be

required to report publicly nearly all payments and gifts to doctors

under legislation introduced Thursday in the Senate.

" Right now, the public has no way to know whether a doctor's been given

money that might affect prescribing habits, " said Senator E.

Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee

and one of the bill's authors.

Senator Herb Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin, said drug and medical device

makers had long defended their payments and gifts to doctors as

appropriate.

" If that is the case, full disclosure will only serve to prove them

right, " Mr. Kohl said.

Ken , senior vice president at the Pharmaceutical Research and

Manufacturers of America, said, " A new law is not necessary when

pharmaceutical marketing is already heavily regulated by the Food and

Drug Administration. "

The F.D.A. does not regulate the gifts or consulting arrangements drug

and device makers routinely provide doctors, and it reviews only a

fraction of the scripted marketing talks doctors make on companies'

behalf.

The bill results from growing concerns that free meals and consulting

payments - which in some cases have exceeded $100,000 annually - lead

doctors to prescribe more expensive drugs and devices, increasing the

costs of health care and sometimes endangering patients.

Minnesota and Vermont require disclosures, and the legislatures of Maine

and West Virginia have passed measures that may soon require them. Other

states are considering similar measures.

The bill introduced Thursday is more comprehensive than any state

measure. It includes medical device companies, not just drug makers, and

has a more inclusive list of gifts and benefits that must be disclosed.

For instance, any payments or benefits made " directly, indirectly,

through an agent, subsidiary or other third party " would have to be

disclosed. That could include payments by universities and an array of

small companies that, with industry financing, set up conferences for

influential doctors at expensive hotels. Such payments have never been

disclosed on a widespread basis.

The bill would also require the disclosure of financing for continuing

medical education. Drug and device makers now underwrite much of the

continuing education that is required of nearly all doctors.

Companies with at least $100 million in annual revenues would have to

make quarterly disclosures of gifts or payments that exceed $25, and the

reports would be posted on a Web site. Companies failing to make the

disclosures - and many have not complied with the laws in Minnesota and

Vermont - would be fined at least $10,000 per infraction.

Under the bill, the provision of free drug samples and financing for

clinical trials would not have to be disclosed.

Rob Restuccia, executive director of the Prescription Project, a

nonprofit group that works to eliminate conflicts of interest in

medicine, said some academic medical centers already restricted gifts to

faculty members. Greater disclosures would lead to more such

restrictions, Mr. Restuccia said.

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