The Star Tribune today has more details from the reports filed with the Minnesota Pharmacy Board about drug company payments to physicians. Minnesota and Vermont are the only two states that require drug companies to publicly disclose such payments.
The paper's lede:
Dr. Inder Anand went to Paris. Dr. David Lowe went to Mankato. And Dr. Rex Haberman traveled across the United States.The three Minnesota doctors took the trips at the expense of pharmaceutical companies, which paid them tens of thousands of dollars in 2005 for their expertise and time.
The paper also reported:
Meanwhile, the reporting system that tracks payments in Minnesota was criticized in this week's journal article as flawed and incomplete.State officials confirmed that one drug maker, Pfizer, did not file a 2005 report with the pharmacy board, even though it reported $2.8 million in payments in 2004.
"I'll be sending them a letter," said Cody Wiberg, the board's executive director. A Pfizer attorney did not return a call for comment Thursday.
Because of the increased public interest in the filings, Wiberg said the board will post copies of the documents on the board's website.
Eventually, he wants to put all of the information in a database so the public can search by doctors' names.
The paper lists some of the big givers and some of the big receivers.
Posted by schwitz at March 23, 2007 11:46 AM | TrackBackDr. Roy Poses has some interesting things
to say on this subject at his blog:
hcrenewal.blogspot.com
" Based on the Minnesota data, which provided information about individual recipients, 14% of physicians with active medical licenses received payments from pharmaceutical companies of at least $100. Although the median number of payments to individual physicians was one, the range was from 1 to 88. the median amount was $1000, but the range was $100 to $1,178,203."
"Finally, the New York Times did its own analysis of the Minnesota data. It focused on a few academic physician leaders who had substantial financial entanglements with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. First, Dr Allan Collins:
Dr. Allan Collins may be the most influential kidney specialist in the country. He is president of the National Kidney Foundation and director of a government-financed research center on kidney disease.
In 2004, the year he was chosen as president-elect of the kidney foundation, the pharmaceutical company Amgen, which makes the most expensive drugs used in the treatment of kidney disease, underwrote more than $1.9 million worth of research and education programs led by Dr. Collins, according to records examined by The New York Times. In 2005, Amgen paid Dr. Collins at least $25,800, mostly in consulting and speaking fees, the records show.
In an e-mail message, Dr. Collins said he personally received in 2004 less than $10,000 from Amgen for educational presentations. 'The contract amount of $1.9 million from Amgen was paid to the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation (MMRF) for the research contract, on which I am the designated senior researcher,' Dr. Collins wrote. He wrote that he did not work for or serve on the board of directors of the foundation. Dr. Collins discloses on his Web site and research papers that he is a consultant to Amgen, among other companies.
Dan Whelan, an Amgen spokesman, said the company paid the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation 'to conduct sophisticated research and data analyses that have enhanced the understanding of health care delivery' for kidney patients."
There are two other detailed examples of cases in Minnesota to be found on Dr. Poses website. Shining some light on this situation is a good thing that may lead to reform in the future.
(Sorry for the long post..)