A database created by the investigative news organization ProPublica allows viewers to see the details of financial relationships between physicians and seven pharmaceutical companies, according to a news report by The Plain Dealer.
The database includes information on how much various pharmaceutical companies — including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnsons and Merck — paid physicians to market their drugs. In one particular instance, 15 Ohio physicians each received more than $100,000 from one or more of the seven pharmaceutical companies from Jan. 2009 to June 2010, according to the report.
The introduction of the database comes at a time when pharmaceutical giants, such as AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, have settled multi-million dollar lawsuits for illegal marketing of their pharmaceutical drugs. Critics of the kind of transactions documented in the database say the payments, although legal, pose an ethical problem.
Educational institutions, including Case Western and Harvard University, and some healthcare organizations, such as the Cleveland Clinic, are working toward implementing stricter regulations on these kinds of financial relationships, if not banning them altogether. As mandated by healthcare reform legislation, pharmaceutical companies are required to make information on their financial ties to physicians publicly available by 2013.
Read The Plain Dealer's news report about the ProPublica database.
Read other coverage about pharmaceutical companies:
- Connecticut Wins $15M From Pharmaceutical Company McKesson in Drug Pricing Lawsuit
- Drug Maker Sandoz Settles Drug Pricing Allegations, Agrees to Pay $1.65M to Idaho
The database includes information on how much various pharmaceutical companies — including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnsons and Merck — paid physicians to market their drugs. In one particular instance, 15 Ohio physicians each received more than $100,000 from one or more of the seven pharmaceutical companies from Jan. 2009 to June 2010, according to the report.
The introduction of the database comes at a time when pharmaceutical giants, such as AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, have settled multi-million dollar lawsuits for illegal marketing of their pharmaceutical drugs. Critics of the kind of transactions documented in the database say the payments, although legal, pose an ethical problem.
Educational institutions, including Case Western and Harvard University, and some healthcare organizations, such as the Cleveland Clinic, are working toward implementing stricter regulations on these kinds of financial relationships, if not banning them altogether. As mandated by healthcare reform legislation, pharmaceutical companies are required to make information on their financial ties to physicians publicly available by 2013.
Read The Plain Dealer's news report about the ProPublica database.
Read other coverage about pharmaceutical companies:
- Connecticut Wins $15M From Pharmaceutical Company McKesson in Drug Pricing Lawsuit
- Drug Maker Sandoz Settles Drug Pricing Allegations, Agrees to Pay $1.65M to Idaho