A way to find out if your doctors have been getting paid by drug companies

[agate]

ProPublica has a Website where you can look up (U.S.) doctors in any field and find out whether that doctor received money from any of 17 drug companies in the years 2009-2013.

I entered a number of past and current doctors of mine. All but one came up with almost no payments received, but a former neuro, the one who prescribed Avonex and Copaxone, received considerable sums.

You can look up doctors at the Website. You might want to uncheck the box requesting the search to be limited to amounts over $250. Those smaller amounts can add up as well.

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

I'm sure everyone here knows that a doctor who accepts money from drug companies isn't a bad doctor for that reason. The neuro I mentioned seemed to be an excellent doctor. But if a doctor accepts large sums, it's all too easy for the doctor to overprescribe certain medicines.

It's the added attention that a drug company gets for itself every time it presents a doctor with an honorarium for speaking, gifts, money for various purposes (like research). That drug company will be more memorable and possibly influence a doctor's prescribing habits.

[Howie]

My dad was paid by a big drug company all the time!

He worked for them.

[Virginia]

Mine received $305.00 for meals in 2013. However, the group that he is in, which is quite large has (taken as a whole) received hundreds of thousands. It says for research and there is some for speaking. When they name a particular Doc and then say it is research I don't know how much of that the Doctor actually gets.

Interesting.

Yes, Howie, if your Dad worked for one he probably did receive quite a lot from them.

[agate]

Maybe one reason the price of MS drugs is so high is that the drug companies pour so much into promotion.

For instance, the latest MS drug, Plegridy, will be costing a cool $62,036 a year, which is also the price of Avonex nowadays.

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When I took Avonex (2002-2005), I recall its cost was about $30,000-$35,000/year.

The chart in this article shows that the price of Avonex has risen 147% in the last 7 years:

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[Frog42]

It's not like we can tell them if they don't lower their price we won't buy it. They have us by the short hairs if we want to use their drugs.

[SalpalSally]

Thus is why Big Pharma will nevah come up with a cure... the vultures.
And the Docs in there pockets, too......Grrrrrrrr.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((agate)))))) ~

Thanks for this link. It was an eye opener.

I was surprised to see that our PCP had accepted "Meals" and "Combination" dollars, although not totaling a huge amount over 3 years. He's also an obstetrician, and he has a family with young children, in addition to his rather large practice. When does he have time to eat? Let alone with Drug Reps?!

What did not surprise me were the neurologists, who refuse to treat Jon (a Medicaid patient) outside of the hospital. One had $60k over 3 years for "Research," and his partner accumulated nearly $100k for Research in only 1 year! Then, another neuro, who treated (mis-treated) my son, Michael, has raked in so much dough, I didn't feel like adding it up!

I can't count the number of neuros I've met over 45 years for my sons, in three States, and a gazillion hospitals. I've never met a neuro, who wasn't a drug pusher.

In fact, the first neuro we consulted for Michael's seizure disorder admitted to me that he was on the board of directors for two pharmaceutical corporations (this was in the late 1970s). In his office, he had a giant painting of himself, with a light reflecting up on it. And, he nearly killed Michael with his drug protocol. He and I had a showdown in his office/examining room, and I told him what he could do with his drugs. I learned through the years from the Mothers of my sons' school mates that he used the same drug protocol on every one of their children.

Last year, one of my dear friends lost her son to what I believe was a toxic reaction to Keppra. The neuros insisted it wasn't the problem. He had intractable seizures for most of his 37 years on Earth and had developmental disabilities, so they had nothing to offer him. Except increasing the Keppra.

So, I'm thinking that these neuros, who are paid for "Research," are using their patients to conduct that "Research."

And the annual cost of MS drugs has my head spinning! That is absolutely outrageous!

How much do these drugs cost in Canada? Mexico? England? France? Cuba?!

And how much money is poured into exploring natural alternatives to these chemicals?

When I watch TV commercials for any pharmaceutical, and the endless list of side effects, including death, I think they could save a lot of money on advertising, by simply stating, "If this drug doesn't kill you or cause you other serious problems, it might help you. Good luck. Take at your own risk."

And finally, we should remember that many pharmaceuticals are attempting to chemically replicate the healing agents of naturally occurring plants. And we would remember that, if only those in charge of providing our care would remember it for us. But, there isn't any money in plants, you know.

End of my rant ~ I apologize for the intrusion ~ as you can see, this gets my ire up a tad bit!

Love & Light,

Rose

[agate]

Wow, Rose.

Some of the neurological drugs are so costly that there must be big money to be made. It's scary, to think that these specialists are cooperating all too willingly with an industry that wants its sales figures to rise and that has almost no incentive to be concerned with the patient's condition.

The neuro I mentioned earlier in this thread received $107,463 from Novartis in 2012, and nearly $170,000 from Novartis in 2013.