Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17551

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Curran J
Drug company expenditures down in Vermont
Business Week 2010 Apr 6
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9ETIH0O1.htm

Full text:

The nation’s drug companies spent almost $2.6 million on marketing their products to Vermont doctors and hospitals in the 12 months ending July 1, 2009, when a new law took effect that’s expected to sharply reduce that kind of spending, according to a report released Monday.

The $2,599,589 spent by 85 pharmaceutical companies was about $400,000 less than in the previous year, according to the annual report of drug company marketing expenditures released by the office of Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell.

The biggest spenders: Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Forest Pharmaceuticals, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline.

“They’re going down, and they’ve been going down for a few years,” said Sorrell. “The question is whether their disclosure obligations are having an impact on that or whether they’re just changing their marketing strategies.”

A drug industry spokeswoman attributed the reduction in spending to the economy and shake-ups in the companies’ sales operations.

As a state, Vermont has aggressively sought to curb drug company expenditures in recent years, asserting that the marketing efforts — from catered lunches for physician’ offices to expense-paid trips to seminars — affect prescribing patterns.

Critics call the payments gifts that can influence doctors. The industry calls them vital tools for keeping doctors and prescribers up to date on the latest information about drug interactions, new drugs on the market and patient feedback.

“Most physicians are well-enough educated to recognize that they need to have information about how to use medicines,” said Marjorie Powell, senior assistant general counsel for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade group that represents the companies. “I would be very surprised if any physician prescribes the medicine because somebody bought them a sandwich.”

First passed in 2002, the Pharmaceutical Marketing Disclosure Law requires drug makers to report their spending on consulting and speakers’ fees, travel expenses, gifts and other payments to or for physicians, hospitals, universities and others authorized to prescribe drugs.

It doesn’t cover the cost of free samples given by the companies.

Last year, Vermont passed changes that — as of July 1, 2009 — required makers to publicly disclose the names and payment amounts of recipients. The measure also bans nearly all gifts, including the catered lunches often bought by pharmaceutical sales representatives for lunchtime meetings with doctors, nurses and other medical office personnel.

But those changes weren’t in effect for the period covered by the report issued Monday. It found:

—About 42 percent the $2.6 million spent was dedicated to speaker fees or other payments, and about 12 percent went to “continuing medical education grants,” which go to medical students for training.

—More than half the payments were in the form of cash ($1.7 million) or checks ($1.4 million).

—About 30 percent of the total, or over $800,000, was spent on food.

—More than 20 percent of the people who had food bought for them got $1,000 worth or more total.

—About 47 percent of the 2,769 licensed physicians and nurses in Vermont had expenditures associated with them.

“Our quick analysis would be that the suggestion of increased transparency and disclosure in the relationship between the pharmaceutical manufacturers and medical doctors is already beginning to have its initial impact,” said Ken Libertoff, director of the Vermont Association for Mental Health, which has lobbied for stiffer disclosure requirements.

“We are pleased that finally, the numbers seemingly are going down, which from our point of view is the right direction,” he said.

Powell said the major purpose of drug companies’ marketing is to make sure prescribers know how and when to prescribe medications, and for representatives to meet with doctors and nurses to get their feedback about the drugs work.

The most convenient way to do that is through lunchtime sit-downs, when they’re not seeing patients, Powell said.

“That’s why pharmaceutical representatives will frequently bring doughnuts or sandwiches,” she said.