Pfizer posts data showing it gave docs $35M for consulting, drug studies in last half of 2009
By Linda A. Johnson, APWednesday, March 31, 2010
Pfizer gave docs $35 million in last half of 2009
TRENTON, N.J. — Pfizer Inc. says it paid doctors and teaching hospitals a total of $35 million in the last half of 2009.
The payments were for services ranging from speaking to other doctors about the company’s products to running studies of its experimental drugs.
The world’s biggest drugmaker disclosed its payments to about 4,500 doctors and other health professionals Wednesday. Unlike rivals who have made some disclosures, Pfizer included figures on payments to doctors running human tests of its drugs.
It’s releasing the information as drugmakers come under more pressure to reveal such payments, which some believe influence what drugs doctors prescribe. The health care overhaul will required detailed disclosures, but not until 2013.
