Two pharmaceutical giants announced today that, starting in 2009, they will publicly disclose payments they make to outside doctors, The New York Times reported. Eli Lilly & Company said it would list online its payments to doctors for speaking and consulting services. Merck & Company said it would disclose the speaking fees it pays to doctors.
The pledges follow similar announcements made in April by a dozen drug and medical-device manufacturers, which said they would report nearly all the money, gifts, and travel they offered doctors, including free continuing medical education. Members of Congress have been pushing for such disclosure, out of concern that such gifts might improperly influence doctors and medical trainees. —Charles Huckabee
