Medical Education Grants, Drug Companies Will Disclose Voluntarily, under pressure.

Jacob Goldstein at Health Blog of Wall Street Journal has a nice story about drug companies and continuing education of medical and health care professionals.
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley has sent letters to drug compnies praising Eli Lilly’s decision to reveal the recipients of its grants for continuing medical education, and asking if they’ve got anything similar in the works.

“If your company does not yet have any efforts or plans in place, please explain why not,” the letter adds, helpfully. That might be enough to push you off the fence to decide it’s time to start reporting the payments.

The letter was sent out a while back to 15 drug and medical device companies, and several are taking the hint;
Boston Scientific says it’s developing a system that will disclose multiple categories of payments, including some to physicians. Medtronic and AstraZeneca have both say they’ll post payments for professional meetings and patient groups later this year. Merck says it’s working on a plan, and Amgen and Abbott say they’re working to figure out how to compile and display their grants. But Schering-Plough Says No.

You can read more at the WSJ health Blog and also follow the numerous comments left including mine.

tag: Medical Education Grants, Senator Chuck Grassley, Eli Lilly, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, AstraZeneca, Amgen, Abbott, Schering-Plough,