Alabama Physicians Earn Millions from Drug Companies
I recently spoke at a seminar where we had a great discussion about ongoing medical device and pharmaceutical litigation. No, the companies that we discussed did not pay me to mention their products. No, none of these large corporations agreed to host the seminar at a sunny beach location or at a ski resort. Then, again, their executives probably would not have paid for the kind of honest discussion we had about the damage caused by some of their products.
However, these same companies have provided millions upon millions of dollars to various physicians and medical groups. This includes money directly to physicians. It also includes trips to the fun places I mentioned earlier. This infusion of cash to the various physicians who are supposed to be unbiased in their assessment and research raises serious questions. I have written about these issues previously.
According to the Birmingham Business Journal, we now learn that drug companies paid Alabama doctors $4.6 Million in 2009-2010. A recently released document shows that one local physician, an internist in Decatur, even received over $200,000.00 in payments from GlaxoSmithKline, alone. If you are taking notes, that is the same company that made billions marketing Avandia before the public became aware of its dangers. The same company that apparently hid negative test results concerning Avandia. The same company that may have paid one member of the FDA advisory panel. I don't mean to single out Glaxo. The same Decatur physician also received significant money during this short period of time from another pharmaceutical giant as well.
In fairness, I do not know the relationship between the local physician I mentioned and his patients. I do believe, however, the process of approving and marketing drugs and medical devices to patients is tainted by the flow of money to physicians and those involved with the regulatory process. If we ever want the process to focus on what should be the most important goals, patient health and safety, then we must insist on a regulatory process that requires full disclosure by both the companies and the decision makers. We must also insist that patients have full disclosure of the relationships between their medical providers and the companies whose products the are providing. I would certainly want to know if my doctor had received a significant amount of money from the drug company whose product he was now prescribing to me.
Drug companies have corrupted the regulatory process designed to keep our medications safe by their payments to physicians and researchers. This corruption has become so bad that now magazines like Forbes are writing about it. http://goo.gl/88qqx