Ely Lilly - makers of f Prozac, Cymbalta, Strattera, Zyprexa etc. GET BUSTED

[GiannaK]

http://tinyurl.com/m33tzs

Drugmaker pays area doctors $76,000 to serve as experts
Eli Lilly is forced to publish names as part of a legal settlement.

Standard practice for drug companies is to enlist A-list physicians as paid experts on their products.

In Northeast Florida, one drugmaker spread more than $76,000 among 13 doctors and other medical providers in the first three months of this year. This according to the first publicly released information to document the long-hidden financial ties between drug companies and doctors.

Paying doctors for their expertise is perfectly legal and gets results: For every $1 paid to physicians, drugmakers see a return of $12 in prescription sales, according to industry analysts. But critics, including some leading members of Congress, say the relationships create an unnecessary conflict of interest and ultimately drive up health costs for patients.

One of the key health care overhaul bills being considered in Congress requires drug companies to begin reporting on their doctor compensation - with details as small as whom the firms give drug samples to - by March 2011. Facing increasing pressure, several drugmakers voluntarily have pledged to start reporting their financial relationships soon.

Eli Lilly and Co. didn't have a choice. The maker of Prozac, Cymbalta and Cialis, the Indianapolis-based firm was forced to begin publishing the names and compensation of its paid consultants as part of a $1.4 billion settlement with the federal government in January.

The company published the information on its Web site in July and plans to continue doing so each quarter; the next update is expected in October. If the first quarter is any indication, the numbers will be staggering: Nationwide, Lilly spent about $22 million on nearly 3,400 providers.

Joe Mignone, a Jacksonville oncologist, was among the 13 recipients on the First Coast. He was paid $8,800, the fourth-highest amount in the area, for five speaking engagements. The main topic of discussion: how best to use the Lilly drug Alimta, which fights certain kinds of lung cancers.

"I speak for the company, and the reason is to educate doctors about the role it can play" in treating patients, Mignone said Thursday. He added: "I'm not telling them to use it. I'm telling them if they are going to use it, this is the proper context."

Mignone, a former University of Florida professor, said it can be difficult for doctors to keep track of the latest drugs and their uses. All of his talks are scripted by the drugmaker and vetted by the Food and Drug Administration.

Does representing a drug company make him more apt to prescribe its pharmaceuticals in his own practice? "I don't buy that," Mignone said. "To me, it's more important to make sure people are using the drug properly."

Another Jacksonville doctor who appears on the list, which Lilly calls a "faculty registry," agreed with Mignone.

"The fee isn't to prescribe the drugs. It's to prepare and give the lectures," said Wasim Deeb, an endocrinologist who was paid $6,637 for giving nine talks about diabetes treatments.

None of the Northeast Florida consultants came close to the state's top earner, a Miami internist named Manuel Suarez-Barcela, who raked in more than $65,000. The area's highest-paid doctor, Jacksonville Beach psychiatrist Hiten Kisnad, who received $14,400, didn't return a call seeking comment.

Besides speaking engagements, physicians made money from Lilly by educating patients on how to take their medicines and advising the company on everything from clinical trials to advertising. A spokeswoman said the company hopes that publishing the list, which grew out of a settlement over Lilly's improper marketing of an antipsychotic drug called Zyprexa, is a step toward "regaining our image and trust."

"Obviously," said Lilly spokeswoman Carole Puls "our industry has suffered a little bit."

For some, the requirement doesn't go far enough. Groups like Pharmedout.org want drug companies out of the drug education process completely.

***End

for payouts Lilly has made see here:
http://www.lillyfacultyregistry.com/...try-report.jsp

[scotty]

Originally Posted by GiannaK

"The fee isn't to prescribe the drugs. It's to prepare and give the lectures," said Wasim Deeb, an endocrinologist who was paid $6,637 for giving nine talks about diabetes treatments.

Prepare and give lectures specifically designed and laid out for the doc giving the lecture. NO going off script! Hardly a non biased presentation of information.

[jule1]

Doctors here give lectures all the time to make money and promote meds. My old GP just gave one on strokes promoting some meds for them. Shouldn't that be illegal?? I'm sure she made some $!

[Mixter]

Yes!!!!!!!

Bust-a-more!

Time to get this out in TV and hijack shows!
We can do so much if we want.

[Songbird]

Originally Posted by GiannaK

All of his talks are scripted by the drugmaker and vetted by the Food and Drug Administration.

If all the talks are scripted by the drug company, how is that using the doctor's expertise? Sounds to me like they are just paying for a presenter with medical credentials.

[scotty]

Originally Posted by Songbird

If all the talks are scripted by the drug company, how is that using the doctor's expertise? Sounds to me like they are just paying for a presenter with medical credentials.

That's exactly what they are doing!

[GiannaK]

Originally Posted by Songbird

If all the talks are scripted by the drug company, how is that using the doctor's expertise? Sounds to me like they are just paying for a presenter with medical credentials.

it's not called being a pharma whore for nothing!