Stanford to Disclose Faculty Receiving Big Pharma And Device $upport « Medical Detox Programs in a stress-free environment

April 10, 2009

Stanford to Disclose Faculty Receiving Big Pharma And Device $upport

Filed under: Big Pharma, pharmaceutical giants, pharmaceutical sales, pharmaceuticals — Rod Malcolm @ 9:22 am

Stanford med school says it will identify doctors and faculty members who receive more than $5K annually from drug and medical device companies, but it won’t reveal the exact figure. And $5K is well below proposed transparency legislation.

Stanford University medical school has announced it will begin identifying doctors and other faculty members who receive more than $5,000 annually from drug and medical-device companies.

The Wall Street Journal Health Blog reports that the medical school expects to post an online list by the end of the summer, listing staff members who received payments, royalties, stock grants and other compensation totally more than $5,000 in 2008.

I suppose that’s a start in the right direction, but it seems woefully inadequate. Although companies providing the compensation will be identified, the dollar amounts above $5,000 won’t be included.

And $5,000 is well below the $500 recommended by the ‘Physician Payment Sunshine Act’ proposed last year by Sen. Charles Grassley (R- Iowa). The act would require drug and device makers to publicly list payments made to doctors that exceed $500.

There is a strong movement afoot in this country to force Big Pharma, device makers, and physicians, researchers and their various institutions, to come clean and make financial transparency firm policy throughout the land. Although not the only factor that could affect the integrity of drug and device testing and reporting, transparency will go a long way in that direction.

Of course, there are other kinds of favors that can be bestowed, non-financial in nature, that could potentially corrupt research or affect public support for one drug over another.

One only has to think back a few weeks to the story about an AstraZeneca medical officer who graced not one, but two females — a researcher and a report writer — with sexual favors, apparently attempting to effect a positive research outcome.

I guess you would have to ask the ladies to get some idea of the dollar value of such gifts.

Medical Detox Programs in a stress-free environment

April 10, 2009

Stanford to Disclose Faculty Receiving Big Pharma And Device $upport

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