Team 5 Investigates: Which Docs Are on the Lilly Pad?

Now it all comes out. Pharma giant Eli Lilly, required by a court settlement to get ahead of state (and likely to be federal) statutes requiring the disclosure of payments to prescribers, has put their payment database online (see it here). And here comes Channel 5, combing through the hundreds of payments, and skunking out the big Massachusetts names.

And guess what — right now it’s the most read story on their site.

BOSTON — Pharmaceutical companies are paying doctors in Massachusetts and across the country stunning amounts of money, Team 5 Investigates reported Thursday.

Drug manufacturer Eli Lilly recently released a list of doctors paid to do what’s called advising and education. But critics told Team 5 these payments are for nothing more than a sales pitch, and they create a conflict of interest.

“They’re salespeople with MDs after their names,” said Dan Carlat, a Newburyport psychiatrist.

Dr. Brent P. Forester, a Belmont psychiatrist, took in $50,800, and Dr. Stephen C. Ellen, a Bedford psychiatrist, received $50,700 from Eli Lilly alone in just the first three months of this year.

Other top earners included Belmont psychiatrist Dr. Gopinath K. Mallya, who made $38,900, and Dr. Sumer D. Verma, a Lexington psychiatrist who made $36,100 in the first 3 months of 2009.

Channel 5 put the whole package together: the well-done video is here, along with the list of top 10 doctors who received the most payments, by amount, and the explanatory statements by the doctors (or their employers) named by the report and an interview with Lilly.

In the report, expert Dr. Daniel Carlat responded with his personal experience:

Carlat used to be on another drug company’s payroll. “I called myself a drug whore,” Carlat said. “That really is what it feels like when you’re doing it.”

One pharmaceutical company paid Carlat $30,000 for talking to doctors about depression and highlighting a drug made by that company. On his blog, he calls it the “dirty 30,” but said it’s nothing compared to what he said some doctors pocket.

“I personally know of some doctors in the business who have made upwards of one million dollars a year,” Carlat said.

The report also highlights our partners at the Pew Prescription Project, which is working to get a federal disclosure law passed that builds on the Massachusetts law enacted last summer.

The disclosure will allow patients the opportunity to know if their doctor is on the payroll of one or more of the drug companies. We know that aggressive industry marketing of new drugs and devices to doctors through undisclosed gifts, consulting payments, speaking fees, classes, and meals can inappropriately influence medical decisions and create conflicts of interest. Thanks Channel 5 for spreading the sunshine.
-Brian Rosman