Captain Obvious
03-04-2014, 10:02 AM
And free lunches and gifts (expensive pens, sports event tickets, etc.)... Salesmen are or have historically been very generous.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/04/285298999/drugmakers-slash-spending-on-doctors-sales-talks
Some of the nation's largest pharmaceutical companies have dramatically reduced payments to health professionals for promotional speeches amid heightened public scrutiny of such spending, a ProPublica analysis shows.
Eli Lilly & Co.'s payments to speakers dropped by 55 percent, from $47.9 million in 2011 to $21.6 million in 2012.
Pfizer's speaking payments fell 62 percent over the same period, from nearly $22 million to $8.3 million.
And Novartis, the largest drugmaker in the U.S. as measured by 2012 sales, spent 40 percent less on speakers that year than it did between October 2010 and September 2011, reducing payments from $24.8 million to $14.8 million.
The sharp declines coincide with increased attention from regulators, academic institutions and the public to pharmaceutical company marketing practices. A number of companies have in recent years that accused them of improperly marketing their drugs.
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/03/03/cymbalta-b49aa8f3166a2c69dc19c68a87fab9fe4b6ba1db-s2-c85.jpg
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/04/285298999/drugmakers-slash-spending-on-doctors-sales-talks
Some of the nation's largest pharmaceutical companies have dramatically reduced payments to health professionals for promotional speeches amid heightened public scrutiny of such spending, a ProPublica analysis shows.
Eli Lilly & Co.'s payments to speakers dropped by 55 percent, from $47.9 million in 2011 to $21.6 million in 2012.
Pfizer's speaking payments fell 62 percent over the same period, from nearly $22 million to $8.3 million.
And Novartis, the largest drugmaker in the U.S. as measured by 2012 sales, spent 40 percent less on speakers that year than it did between October 2010 and September 2011, reducing payments from $24.8 million to $14.8 million.
The sharp declines coincide with increased attention from regulators, academic institutions and the public to pharmaceutical company marketing practices. A number of companies have in recent years that accused them of improperly marketing their drugs.
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/03/03/cymbalta-b49aa8f3166a2c69dc19c68a87fab9fe4b6ba1db-s2-c85.jpg