Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
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Pfizer Inc., a New York-based drug maker, has become the fourth in the industry to announce plans to publicly disclose payments to doctors. The new commitment to transparency is due in large part to public outcry and potential legislative action — both byproducts of investigations initiated by Iowa’s own U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley.
Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, plans to begin disclosing payments early next year that it has made to medical professionals who can write prescriptions — doctors, nurse-practitioners and physician assistants — when such compensation exceeds $500 per year. The news follows similar transparency announcements by Eli Lilly & Co., GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Merck.
Grassley, who has been investigating conflicts of interest between drug makers and physicians as well as between drug makers and researchers, expressed pleasure with the expanding list of companies opting to make the process more transparent.
“Shedding light on industry payments to physicians would be good for the system,” Grassley said in a prepared statement. “Transparency fosters accountability, and the public has a right to know about financial relationships.”
Although the drug companies are currently setting their own rules in relation to what is disclosed, Grassley is hopeful the process will be standarized. Grassley, a Republican, and Sen. Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, introduced the Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2009 last month. If the bill becomes law all pharmaceutical and biotechnical companies would be required to publicly disclose compensation to medical professionals or face a $1 million fine. And, unlike Pfizer’s self-imposed $500 yearly cap for disclosures, the Sunshine Act would require payments in excess of $100 to be reported.
Although Grassley pushed a similar bill last year, it never gained the necessary momentum. This new version — along with its reduced cap on disclosures — has at least one advantage the earlier bill did not: an administration that campaigned and won on call for transparency.
In addition to its vow to disclose compensation made to medical professionals, Pfizer has also vowed to disclose payments made during clinical research trials. It is the first drug maker to do so.
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