Healthy Skepticism Library item: 9081

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: Journal Article

Charatan F.
Drug company payments to doctors still hard to access despite disclosure laws
BMJ 2007 Mar 31; 334:(7595):655
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7595/655

Abstract:

An attempt to use disclosure laws passed by two US states to discover the sums of money paid by drug companies to doctors found the relevant information was of limited quality and hard to access.

The US states of California, Maine, West Virginia, Vermont, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia have laws mandating disclosure of payments made to doctors by drug companies. In two of these states, Vermont and Minnesota, payment disclosures are meant to be publicly available.

The Vermont law, enacted in 2001, requires drug companies to disclose any gift or payment of $25 (£13; 19) or more to doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacists, or health insurers for the purpose of marketing their products. The only state with a similar law is Minnesota, which in 1993 prohibited companies from giving gifts valued at more than $50 to doctors or other healthcare providers. The law also requires disclosures of payments . . .