Out in the Light

During the first six months of 2009, Pfizer paid about $20 million to some 4,500 medical professionals in consulting and speaking fees, reports the New York Times. In addition, Pfizer paid $15.3 million to 250 academic medical centers for clinical trials. These details were released as part of an agreement Pfizer made with the US government during an investigation into the company's promotion of drugs for off-label uses. Eli Lilly, Merck, and GlaxoSmithKline have made similar disclosures. Pfizer, NPR's Shots blog points out, was the only company thus far to release this information as a database, which may be found here. The Times adds that as part of the health care reform bill, beginning in 2012, all drug and device makers will have to disclose payments to doctors that exceed $10.