Sen.
Grassley to propose legislation that would
require prescription drug makers to disclose
payments made to physicians for consulting,
lectures, seminar attendance
Aug 06, 2007--
Senate Finance Committee ranking member
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) last week said he would
introduce legislation that would require drug
makers to make public payments to any physician
who bills Medicare and Medicaid programs, the
New York Times reports. Other
lawmakers also support such a federal registry,
and several states -- including Minnesota,
Vermont and Maine -- have state-level
registries.
In an
investigation into physician payments by drug
makers, Grassley contacted universities that
require academic researchers to disclose
industry payments. He found that the
universities did not verify the payment amounts
researchers claimed. In addition, they did not
make the information public, according to the
Times.
"So if
there is a doctor getting thousands of dollars
from a drug
company -- payments that might be affecting his
or her objectivity -- the only people outside
the pharmaceutical industry who will probably
ever know about this are the people at that very
university," Grassley said.
However,
John Bentivoglio, a lawyer who represents drug
makers, said that payment disclosures might be
misinterpreted and that they would be a burden
for the industry. "One of the concerns is that
these payments are seen as bribes," Bentivoglio
said, adding, "The vast majority are lawful
payments for services."
In a speech on the Senate floor Thursday,
Grassley cited the case of the
University of Cincinnati's Melissa DelBello,
a child psychiatrist who made $180,000 in just
over two years from
AstraZeneca for work on the antipsychotic
drug Seroquel, which now is widely used in
children (Harris,
New York Times,
8/4).
