THE WEEK. “Drugmakers paid doctors more than $1 billion in the U.S. last year, according to a May 2013 Financial Times report. Merck led the group ($226 million), followed by Eli Lilly ($219 million) and Pfizer ($162 million). In Britain, GlaxoSmithKline leads the pack, paying out about $4.5 million to doctors each year, out of the $65 million all drugmakers give to doctors for helping market their wares, according to an April 2013 study.”
Text: Peter Weber, The Week
“Presumably, GSK can put the “tens of millions” it pays to influence doctors to good use when the new rules kick in before 2016. And the company has already paid heavily for its marketing mistakes: A bribery investigation launched in China last summer has sent sales dropping sharply in the world’s most populous nation, and GSK agreed to pay $3 billion in 2012 to settle U.S. criminal charges that it illegally promoted drugs and withheld important safety information.”
“On Tuesday, British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline vowed to unilaterally disarm in the controversial marketing war that has helped fuel the pharmaceutical industry’s robust growth in the past 30 years”.
“So despite GSK chief executive Sir Andrew Witty’s insistence that these new rules weren’t prompted by the ongoing China case, it’s clear that doctor payola practices have become bad for business.”