Milan, 09/12/2011
The Financial Times reports that a group of pharmaceutical companies paid nearly $150 million to US doctors during 2011. Figures show that the money was paid by pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca (AZ) and Pfizer, to doctors for travel and entertainment expenses, as well as training and consulting fees. The doctors who have currently received payments in 2011 are about 165,000 (they were 262,000 in 2010).
This comes at a time when US government agencies, following the settlements that pharmaceutical companies have had to pay in lawsuits for kickbacks to medical professionals and the illicit marketing of psychiatric drugs for unapproved uses, are setting guidelines to make industry support for medical professionals transparent by 2013.
In the UK, the British Pharmaceutical Industry Association (ABPI) changed its code of practice in early 2011 to help increase transparency of working practices between the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare professionals.
Companies will be required to report payments to healthcare professionals for services including fees for speakers, advisory boards, consulting and sponsorship for meeting attendance on an annual basis. The first declaration will be made in 2013 for payments made in 2012.
In Italy, all efforts aimed at publicizing the financial relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and doctors have run into a rubber wall.
The Citizens' Committee for Human Rights recommends: inform yourself carefully, do not accept easy psychiatric diagnoses both for yourself and for your children, request accurate medical tests and always consult a doctor if you decide to stop taking psychotropic drug-based therapies. The citizen has the right to request the application of informed consent and doctors must inform, code of medical ethics art. 33, 34 and 35, it is also possible to report adverse drug reactions by filling in the appropriate form and addressing it to the pharmacovigilance manager in your area, as indicated by the Italian Medicines Agency.
Article source:
http://www.pmlive.com/find_an_article/allarticles/categories/General/2011/august_2011
