Doctors paid $39,000 a year by the drug companies whose medicine they prescribe

SOME senior doctors are earning up to $39,000 in drug company payments a year for overseas trips, speaking and consultancy fees, a new report reveals.

Australian doctors and researchers are receiving tens of thousands of dollars from major international drugs companies for speaking engagements and expenses.

DRUG companies have for the first time revealed how they are paying Australian doctors up to $19,000 for overseas trips, and more than $18,000 in speaking and consultancy fees to spruik and critique their medicines.

Doctors shared in $8.5 million in payments in the six months between October 2015 and April 2016.

One in three doctors refused to allow drug companies to publish how much they received.

Professor Andrew Carr who received more than $39,000 from drug company Gilead was the doctor who received the most drug company payments in the six months to April 2016.

Gilead has just received a government subsidy for its $19,000 per patient per month Hepatitis C cure Sovaldi.

Professor Carr was paid $18,960 in consultancy fees and over $19,000 in travel and accommodation expenses by Gilead in the six months between October 2015 and April 2016.

Learn more about Gilead's social and environmental impact in our 2015 #CSR report: https://t.co/1jLCz2xrtL pic.twitter.com/z4RPE38b4E

— Gilead Sciences (@GileadSciences) August 29, 2016

The professor, who is the director of the HIV, immunology and infectious diseases unit at St Vincent’s hospital in Sydney, said Gilead-sponsored his travel to an international HIV conference at which he presented data from a multicenter study in Australia that Gilead had sponsored.

The study the safety of a combination pill as post-exposure prophylaxis against HIV infection.

“Gilead might ask me to present a lecture on a certain topic or ask my advice on its drug development program. My particular expertise is in the side effects of HIV treatments, in which I have an international reputation so I am often telling Gilead about the limitations of its drugs,” he said.

He has been an investigator in Gilead-sponsored HIV clinical research for over 15 years, as well as in academic HIV research studies that Gilead supports (e.g. provides drug for).

BIG BUSINESS

Gilead, which posted $32 billion in sales revenue last year, was also behind sizeable sums given to five other doctors whose drug company payments were so large they made it to the top ten.

Dr Mark O’Reilly, Dr Darren Russell, Dr Cameron Holloway and Dr Tee Ban and Dr Mark Bloch also received payments from Gilead.

Merlin Thomas received $35,000 in drug company payments from Boehringer and Astra Zeneca.

Dr Gary Kilov received over $33,000 in payments from Novo Nordis, MSD, GSK, Elli Lily, Boehringer and Amgen.

The report released by pharmaceutical lobby group Medicines Australia has revealed some drug companies are spending more than $700,000 a year on payments to doctors.

From October pharmaceutical companies will have to reveal any payments they make to a doctor whether the doctor likes it or not. It will be a condition of the doctor taking the money that the information is published.

‘SUSPICION AND JEALOUSY’

Australian Medical Association president Dr Michael Gannon welcomed the transparency and said some of the payments helped doctors travel overseas to attend medical conferences to keep up to date with scientific developments in their field.

However, he admitted some members of the public may baulk at the size of the payments.

“I think when it comes to hospitality $13,000 all expenses paid trip overseas is out of the reach of most Australians, some Australians might look at it with suspicion and jealously,” he said.

The transparency reporting in Australia follows similar measures in the US and Europe.

In the US it was recently revealed that of the 125 doctors who contributed to national guidelines on lung, breast, prostate and bowel cancer, 198 had received over $30 million in funding from pharmaceutical companies.

INTERNATIONAL CONTROVERSY

Drug company Astra Zeneca declared it had stopped payments to send doctors to overseas conferences in 2012. However, its report reveals it spent $7,829 sending Dr Fiona Abel to an overseas conference in April this year.

The same drug company spent $92,000 on travel and accommodation for doctors within Australia.

One of the world’s biggest drug companies GSK reported that it spent $890,503 in 2014 on consultancy fees doctors who served on its advisory boards or spoke or wrote papers for the company.

MA members support all efforts to increase commercialisation of Aust medical science. Innovation improves lives. https://t.co/hJ1lOp30O2

— Medicines Australia (@MedicinesAus) August 4, 2016

From January 1 this year it pledged to stop direct payments to doctors to speak at medical conferences about its medicines.

Medicines Australia says the new report “delivers more information than Australians have ever had before about the relationships between healthcare professionals and members of the Australian innovative medicines industry”.

“Our high standards of ethical conduct and transparency will help drive further improvements to Australia’s health care system,” the organisation said in a statement.

News Corp Australia does not suggest any impropriety by the doctors named in this story.

Top 10 doctors:

Carr, Andrew $39,549

Thomas, Merlin $35,110

Kilov, Gary $33,573

O’Reilly, Mark $30,634

Russell, Darren $30,362

Holloway, Cameron $30,115

Feenstra, John $30,043

Tee, Ban $28,726

Upham, John W $28,346

Bloch, Mark $27,235

Top 10 companies:

BMS $910,109

Servier $877,138

Novartis $849,819

Gilead $829,336

Amgen $567,977

Boehringer Ingelheim $422,975

Astra Zeneca $410,699

Roche $402,953

Pfizer $346,192

Sanofi $335,723