Drug Companies Scaling Back Payments to Doctors for Drug Talks

Drug and medical-device companies are scaling back payments to doctors for promotional talks "as transparency increases and blockbuster drugs lose patent protection," ProPublica reports: "Eli Lilly and Co.’s payments to speakers dropped by 55 percent, from $47.9 million in 2011 to $21.6 million in 2012. Pfizer’s speaking payments fell 62 percent over the same period, from nearly $22 million to $8.3 million. And Novartis, the largest U.S. drug maker as measured by 2012 sales, spent 40 percent less on speakers that year than it did between October 2010 and September 2011, reducing payments from $24.8 million to $14.8 million."

The Physician Payment Sunshine Act, going to effect this year, is going to require all pharmaceutical and medical-device companies to publicly report payments to physicians, ProPublica reports.