AstraZeneca has launched an online database to publish details about payments it makes to doctors in the U.S. The database will be updated quarterly, the drug giant said in a blog post.
The database includes payments to doctors for speaking and consulting fees. Drug companies hire doctors to inform members of healthcare communities about new drugs and also to perform research.
AstraZeneca’s supported transparency into doc payments in 2008, when Congress was debating creating a national registry of payments. “AstraZeneca believes that providing information to the public about our company, our products and how we do business is integral to improving patient health,” Tony Zook, then head of AstraZeneca’s U.S. business, said in 2008 of creating a national registry of payments.
A couple things have happened since forcing payments out into the open.
The federal health reform law passed in 2010 mandates that companies publicize payments to docs. Also, as a part of a settlement with the federal government last year, AstraZeneca agreed to make certain disclosures. AstraZeneca paid $520 million to settle claims with the U.S. Department of Justice that it illegally marketed its antispychotic drug Seroquel for uses not approved by federal regulators. The Justice Department said that AstraZeneca paid doctors to promote the drug for unapproved uses, and even footed the bill for doctors’ trips to resort locations, hoping that would boost prescriptions of the drug. Doctors may prescribe a drug as they see fit, but drug companies can only market drugs for uses approved by regulators.
AstraZeneca did not admit wrongdoing as a part of the settlement.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
AstraZeneca publishing payments to docs | Delaware Inc.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment