"Partnerships with industry are not evil, and they're not all bad and they're not all prejudicial. But you want to do these partnerships ethically, and you want to do them where you eliminate bias." -Guy Chisolm, PhD, The Cleveland Clinic (per Marketplace report, 12/03/08)
"If somebody gives you a lot of money, even if it's to support your research, even if you're not benefiting personally from it, you start thinking of them more as friends than as people you're doing business with." -David Hamilton, 14-year veteran WSJ reporter, Bnet.com
"Most conflicts of interest in medicine can and should be eliminated—not 'managed.' While industry sponsorship of research may be acceptable, it should be for work of scientific, not just commercial, importance. Academic researchers should have no other financial ties to companies whose products they are evaluating." -Marcia Angell, MD, New York Review of Books, 02/26/09
“It is time for medical schools to end a number of long-accepted relationships and practices that create conflicts of interest, threaten the integrity of their missions and their reputations, and put public trust in jeopardy." Institute of Medicine 04/28/09 report: "Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice"
“With the IOM’s endorsement, issues that were once controversial now are indisputable: conflicts of interest in medicine are no longer acceptable.” -Dr. David J. Rothman, president of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession at Columbia University (quoted 04/28/09 by Gardiner Harris for NYT)
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Canned Marketing Lectures Pharmaceutical Firms Pay Medical Communications Companies To Prepare and Physician "Thought Leaders" To Deliver, Typically To Their Less Illustrious Peers, Over Free Dinner (and Drinks) at an Expensive Restaurant: The Bane of "Speakers Bureaus"
"The average honorarium for a key opinion leader to deliver a scientific speech is $3,200; and $2,300 for a promotional speech. Large pharmaceutical companies, however, can easily pay more than $4,800 and $3,000, respectively, for the same thought leader to perform the
activities. (In comparison, a typical KOL will receive approximately $1,600 from small companies for either type of speaking engagement and
approximately $1,800 from mid-sized companies for either scientific or promotional speeches.)"
Source: "Thought Leader Fair-Market Value: Compensation Benchmarks and Procedures," Cutting Edge Information, 2009
"Speakers' bureaus are one example of how the drug company ... they pay you to speak. They give you the slides. You can't add or subtract any slide without the permission of the company. And they ... tell you what to say about the illness and their drug. Now, they're not saying it. Their drug rep isn't saying it. Some 'opinion leader' is saying it. Therefore, it must be true. (Trained monkey on the take?) You said that. I didn't. - Catherine De Angelis, MD, Editor-in-Chief, the Journal of the American Medical Association
Source: "Ghost-written Prescriptions," On the Media, 04/18/08
Physician membership on HIV speakers bureaus
(These data are currently being compiled and frequently updated. Please consider this listing a living document/work in progress rather than an exhaustive,100% comprehensive report.)
| ABBOTT | BI | BMS | GILEAD | GSK | INCYTE | MERCK | MONOGRAM | PFIZER | ROCHE | THERA | TIBOTEC | VIRCO |
| Calvin J. Cohen | Calvin J. Cohen | Calvin J. Cohen | Calvin J. Cohen | Calvin J. Cohen | Calvin J. Cohen | Calvin J. Cohen | Calvin J. Cohen | Calvin J. Cohen | ||||
| Richard A. Elion | Richard A. Elion | Richard A. Elion | Richard A. Elion | |||||||||
| Harold A. Kessler | Harold A. Kessler | Harold A. Kessler | Harold A. Kessler | Harold A. Kessler | ||||||||
| Edwin DeJesus | Edwin DeJesus | Edwin DeJesus | Edwin DeJesus | Edwin DeJesus | ||||||||
| Ian Frank | Ian Frank | Ian Frank | Ian Frank | Ian Frank | Ian Frank | |||||||
| Graeme J. Moyle | Graeme J. Moyle | Graeme J. Moyle | Graeme J. Moyle | Graeme J. Moyle | Graeme J. Moyle | Graeme J. Moyle | ||||||
| Paul E. Sax | Paul E. Sax | Paul E. Sax | Paul E. Sax | Paul E. Sax | Paul E. Sax | Paul E. Sax | ||||||
| Joseph J. Eron, Jr.* | Joseph J. Eron, Jr.* | Joseph J. Eron, Jr.* | Joseph J. Eron, Jr.* | |||||||||
| Peter Reiss* | Peter Reiss* | Peter Reiss* | Peter Reiss* | Peter Reiss* | Peter Reiss* | Peter Reiss* | Peter Reiss* | |||||
| Sharon Walmsley* | Sharon Walmsley* | Sharon Walmsley* | Sharon Walmsley* | Sharon Walmsley* | Sharon Walmsley* | Sharon Walmsley* | Sharon Walmsley* | Sharon Walmsley* | ||||
| Jean R. Anderson† | Jean R. Anderson† | Jean R. Anderson† | ||||||||||
| Eric Daar† | Eric Daar† | Eric Daar† | Eric Daar† | Eric Daar† | Eric Daar† | Eric Daar† | Eric Daar† | Eric Daar† | ||||
| W. Keith Henry† | W. Keith Henry† | W. Keith Henry† | W. Keith Henry† | W. Keith Henry† | W. Keith Henry† | |||||||
| Wilbert Jordan† | Wilbert Jordan† | Wilbert Jordan† | Wilbert Jordan† | Wilbert Jordan† | Wilbert Jordan† | |||||||
| Renslow Sherer† | ||||||||||||
| David A. Wohl† | David A. Wohl† | David A. Wohl† | David A. Wohl† | David A. Wohl† | David A. Wohl† | David A. Wohl† | ||||||
† Member of the 2008-09 DHHS/NIH Adult and Adolescent Antiretroviral Treatment Guidelines panel.
Sources: For Drs. Kessler, Cohen, DeJesus, Elion, Moyle, Sax: Changing Concepts in HIV (CCHIV.com), Rush University Medical Center, "Post-CROI 2008 CME/CE Update;" for Drs. Eron, Reiss, Walmsley: "2008 ART Recommendations of the International AIDS Society-USA Panel," JAMA, August 6, 2008;300(5):555-570; for Drs. Anderson, Daar, Henry, Jordan, Sherer, Wohl: "Guidelines for the use of antiretroviral agents in HIV-1-infected adults and adolescents," Appendix A. Department of Health and Human Services. November 3, 2008; 1-139. Available at http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/ContentFiles/AdultandAdolescentGL.pdf.
Physician receipt of "consulting fees" from drug and/or diagnostic companies
(These data are currently being compiled. Please consider this tally as a living document and/or work in progress rather than an exhaustive listing.)
| ABBOTT | ACHILLION | ARDEA | AVEXA | BI | BMS | GILEAD | GSK | MERCK | MONOGRAM | PFIZER | PROGENICS | ROCHE | TIBOTEC | TOBIRA | ||
| Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | Michael Saag, MD | |||
| Steven Deeks, MD | Steven Deeks, MD | Steven Deeks, MD | Steven Deeks, MD | |||||||||||||
| Joseph J. Eron, MD | Joseph J. Eron, MD | Joseph J. Eron, MD | Joseph J. Eron, MD | Joseph J. Eron, MD | ||||||||||||
| Constance Benson, MD | Constance Benson, MD | Constance Benson, MD | Constance Benson, MD | |||||||||||||
| Richard Moore, MD | Richard Moore, MD | |||||||||||||||
| Ann Collier, MD | Ann Collier, MD | Ann Collier, MD | ||||||||||||||
Source: N Engl J Med 2009;360:1824
Physician receipt of "lecture fees" from drug and/or diagnostic companies
(These data are currently being compiled. Please consider this tally as a living document and/or work in progress rather than an exhaustive listing.)
ABBOTT ACHILLION ARDEA AVEXA BI BMS GILEAD GSK MERCK MONOGRAM PFIZER PROGENICS ROCHE TIBOTEC TOBIRA VIRCO
Physician membership on HIV advisory boards
(These data are currently being compiled. Please come back for a look again soon.)
Physician receipt of pharmaceutical research grants
(These data are currently being compiled. Please come back for a look again soon.)
Drug company payments to Continuing Medical Education (CME) programs & medical communications companies (MECCs)
Companies with HIV brands:
Pfizer (the world's largest pharmaceutical company by far) seems to have missed its own self-imposed March 2008 deadline to begin posting CME grants online
Pfizer's newly launched Medical Education Grants management system
GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty announced to The Financial Times (October 22, 2008) plans to disclose payments to US physicians and impose a cap of $150,000 per year, per doctor, but details of the disclosure scheme are still being worked out. (Pharmalot observes, "$150,000 is alot of money." And asks, "Why so much, Andrew?")
Bristol-Myers Squibb CME grants FAQs
Abbott Labs has not announced any plans to make recipients of CME and other educational/communication grants available any time soon.
Gilead Sciences has not announced any plans to make recipients of CME and other educational/communication grants available any time soon.
Merck
JNJ (parent company of Tibotec-Virco)
Boehringer Ingelheim
Roche
Other companies:
Contrary to the company's own PR, the AstraZeneca CME grants database does not yet appear to be a reality. Here's all they seem to have as of May 2009.
Search the Eli Lilly CME grants database here
Drug & diagnostic company payments to individual physicians
(These data are currently being compiled. Please come back for a look again soon.)
In the interim, the Integrity in Science database of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, while far from comprehensive, might be of help.
N.B. The Center for Science in the Public Interest cautions users that exclusion from the Integrity in Science database should not be interpreted as the absence of corporate ties. Conversely, receipt of money from for-profit industry does not imply that anyone acted improperly or the results of industry-funded activities are invalid.
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AVERAGE DRUG COMPANY PAYMENT PER PHYSICIAN FOR YEAR 2006 (State of Vermont) ######################################################################################
Psychiatrists: $45,692
Endocrinologists: $33,730
HIV/AIDS specialist: ?????
Source: Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Payment Disclosure Database, Office of the Attorney General, Vermont